


Freestyle

by snack_size



Category: Pacific Rim (2013)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Yancy Lives, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Major Injury Recovery, Slow Build
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-24
Updated: 2014-03-16
Packaged: 2018-01-02 11:31:10
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 43,028
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1056248
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/snack_size/pseuds/snack_size
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Yancy Becket survives Knifehead but can no longer pilot a Jaeger. Despite Raleigh's insistence he won't jockey with anyone else, Pentecost thinks he might be a good match for Herc Hansen now that he's partnerless following the destruction of Lucky Seven. Both Beckets are sent to Sydney - and find that they're each compatible with Herc in their own way. But Yancy is still reeling from his severe injuries and status as a double amputee, only complicating all of their relationships.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I just really like to hurt these characters.
> 
> Also beta'd by the absolutely lovely [Xue Ying](http://xue-ying.tumblr.com/)

Raleigh was in a coma for longer than he was. It was only after he heard Raleigh say his name, clasp his hand, and utter an intelligible sentence that Yancy started to tell people it was better it worked out that way. “I needed to be there for him,” he said to Tendo.

Tendo and Pentecost had been there when Yancy woke up for the third time. All he remembered before that was searing heat and then cold, something terrible scraping and tearing at him - teeth, he thought, it had to have been the teeth, and then the frigid water. The first two times he woke up had been with nurses, and he had tugged himself out of the drugs and an overwhelming torpor to answer a few of their questions before drifting back again.

“The fuck did I drink last night?” he tried, because he knew they were both there. He had heard their voices. A slight grin flicked across Tendo’s face. Pentecost explained the situation with his standard military precision.

“Damage, sir?” Yancy asked. Like he was a Jaeger. He sort of was, as far as PPDC was concerned.

“Yance-” Tendo said. The nickname was not a good sign. “You’re lucky you’re alive.” This was a worse sign. “Your right side, it’s...you had a lot of surgery.”

“OK,” Yancy said.

“Your legs,” Tendo said, voice softer. Pentecost met his eyes.

“OK,” Yancy said. Broken, then.

“No, Yance…I mean, with both, there’s just enough for a full leg prosthetic with knee joint, but the amount of tissue damage-”

“Both my fucking legs?” he asked, and he couldn’t reach down with his right arm because it was affixed to his chest so he reached across with his left - and while he couldn’t feel the stumps, twisting the way he did, he could see that there was...very little _there_  
“But - what-” He tried to swallow and found he couldn’t. His throat was closed and dry.

Tendo got a cup from the bedside table and spooned him some ice chips. Yancy just opened and accepted them. He was just doing what he thought was right.

“We will sort that out, Ranger,” Pentecost said. He kept his promises, Yancy knew, but sorting it out could mean that he got shipped to Pentecost’s Home for Retired and Broken Jaeger Pilots, Population 0 1.

So it was better that Raleigh wasn’t...there, those first few days after Yancy woke up. Tendo was there to take the brunt of it, as was Elka, their chief tech.

“We’ll fix you up,” she said, after they had sat in silence for a few minutes.

“Yeah, I know,” Yancy said, then, “Fuck!” Elka nodded. “I know, fuck, shoulda died, should be-”

“No one is saying you should be grateful,” Elka said. “I’d be fucking upset too, Yance. I’m not gonna sit here and say all that stupid shit to you either. Just - you’re a Ranger, we’re Jaeger engineers. We’ll do it.’

“OK,” Yancy said. “Thanks.”

Tendo brought him a huge bag of hard candy, after the doctor said it was OK - Yancy was being tube fed, at that point, eating crushed ice to keep his mouth from feeling like a desert. As Yancy sucked, Tendo watched him. “At least you’ve still got your cock,” he said. 

“Yeah,” Yancy said, and he hadn’t thought about that. Fucking hell, he thought. “OK.” Tendo smiled at him. “Just have to find someone who wants to fuck-”

“Well,” said Tendo. “There was that Olympian sprinter, right? One that killed his hot model girlfriend - he had a hot model girlfriend.” Tendo nodded. “You still have your pretty face.”

“Fuck,” Yancy said, and he ran his good arm through his hair. Tendo reached out and took his hand and squeezed it. Yancy wanted to shout at him - he really didn’t need the pity.

“I’d fuck you,” Tendo said.

“You are so fucking straight,” Yancy said, and then he furrowed his brow as Tendo let go of his hand and grinned at him. “Fuck, if I weren’t so doped up I could of finished that joke.”

“I checked your chart,” Tendo said. “You are really doped up.”

Yancy was disconnected from the feeding tube by the time Raleigh woke up. They had put him in a medically induced coma because his brain was swollen. He was moved into Yancy’s room when they decided to wean him off the drugs.

Seeing Raleigh’s eyes flutter, Yancy took his hand. “Yancy..?”

“Hey, Rals,” he said. He had angled himself so Raleigh wouldn’t be able to see his legs. Raleigh had enough to worry about, for now.

“Are we dead?”

“We’re in a hospital,” Yancy said.

“Feels like something chewed my brain,” Raleigh replied. Sort of, Yancy thought, but he just smiled at Raleigh.

“Gonna be fine, Rals - you just, uh, piloted Gipsy by herself for two hours or so. Got her back to shore.”

“You got eaten,” Raleigh said.

“Briefly,” Yancy said, because fuck, he felt himself getting chewed in his nightmares, teeth as big as him with little shark-like serrations pulling at him and- “I got better.” Fucker only got a couple of leg bones, he thought, and then he made a choked laughing sound.

“OK,” Raleigh said. He didn’t get the joke, which concerned Yancy - fuck, how many times had they watched that movie? Instead, he smiled at Yancy, and Yancy smiled back.

* * *

“I...I can’t,” Raleigh said, when Yancy asked him if he was getting back in a Jaeger. They had just been transferred to a rehabilitation facility in Seattle. Yancy had wanted to ask Raleigh for some time, now, but he had waited. He knew what Raleigh would say, and he didn’t want to get angry with him. “Who would-”

“I don’t need anyone to take care of me,” Yancy snapped, and wheeled around to face Raleigh.

Raleigh nodded, looked like a puppy that had been kicked. “Who would you have?” he asked, voice soft.

_Oh_ , Yancy thought, and he felt bad. Raleigh shook his head, though - he did that a lot, lately. _No apology necessary, I understand,_ he tried to say. He did, Yancy knew, and he didn’t.

“I figured, I could work on the Wall-”

“The fucking Wall?” Yancy asked. More money was getting poured into the Wall, and some people were saying it was because of the two of them. “No, no way. So you don’t get back in a Jaeger, but we’re not leaving the PPDC.”

“OK,” Raleigh said, though Yancy could tell he didn’t like it. Whatever. Yancy almost never pulled the big brother card. “Yance, I know we don’t usually...because of the drift, but...we can talk.” His eyes were wide and he seemed so earnest that Yancy struggled with his instinctive response to push away.

“I just don’t…” Yancy began, and looked at his baby brother. Remarkably whole, despite everything - third degree burns that had left imprints of the drive suit on his skin, a swollen brain. He could have come back a lot worse. “I don’t want to live like this.”

“I know,” Raleigh said, and he sat down on his bed and Yancy could see that his eyes were beginning to tear up. “It was my fault, it…” He pressed his lips together. Yancy sighed – they had both been cocky. The only solace was that they weren’t the only Jaeger pilots who were.

“We were both idiots,” Yancy replied. “And it knew, too, there’s some guy out of Tokyo - Geiszler says they’re adapting. Learning. It knew where we were.” He glanced up at Raleigh and then looked away, because Raleigh was tearing up.

“Yeah, fuck,” said Raleigh. Yancy reached over and touched his knee. “I felt you die.”

“I know,” Yancy said. “I felt that too, for a moment, and then-” He had been so fucking alone. Yancy had thought, when they initially got into the Conn Pod, that it was a good thing - because if they died, they would die together.

“But that doesn’t mean you can’t tell me that kind of stuff,” Raleigh said. He fidgeted, and Yancy squeezed his knee.

He’d aged a decade in the past couple months, Yancy realized. His little golden retriever of a brother - the one who insisted they have a signature fist bump, who swaggered around like he was in a fucking outlaw motorcycle gang - was gone.

“OK,” Yancy said.

“I hope the food is better here,” Raleigh said, and laid down on the bed, still careful with his left shoulder. 

* * *

Plenty of PPDC officials came to check on them while they were in rehab. Raleigh told each one of them the same thing. They both would take jobs, whatever the higher ups thought they would be suited for. That said, Raleigh wanted to be a mechanic- he had done work on Gipsy, under Elka, and he thought he could learn more.

They all smiled and nodded at him. Yancy just watched, gave them a nice big smile when they asked him how he was doing, how his physical therapy was going.

They had rehab sessions together, and most of the time, Yancy envied Raleigh for the fact he just had to perform shoulder strengthening exercises and work on his left hand grip. Raleigh stayed when it was just Yancy who needed to continue each day - he had nerve damage to work through, had to strengthen new muscles, and had to learn how to use the prosthetics they had made for him.

“Elka and Co. really came through,” Tendo said, when he brought the final prosthetics in to show Yancy.

Yancy nodded - did they feel like they owed it to him? Still, they were gorgeous pieces of work. He was going to have to start with the standard prosthetics, though, before they even thought of letting him take them for a spin. He almost laughed at himself for that word choice - a spin. Like it was recreational, instead of necessary, like he hadn’t been cut in half.

 The PPDC humored Raleigh until he was nearly done with his rehab. Yancy knew it was going happen when he saw Pentecost outside the door of the physical therapy room. Raleigh was on a balance board, throwing a medicine ball back and forth with Kyle, their physical therapist, a self-proclaimed dude and the most-Midwestern person Yancy had ever met.

“Rangers,” said Pentecost, “at ease.” Raleigh sort of stumbled off of the balance board, while Yancy held onto the parallel bars where he had been working with the standard prosthetics.

“Sir?” Yancy asked.

“I need to speak with you about a need we have,” Pentecost said.

“Sir, all due respect, but I do not want-” Raleigh spoke immediately, voice as emphatic as he could manage.

“Let him finish, Raleigh,” Yancy said.

“I am sure you heard about the...incident with Lucky Seven,” Pentecost said. Yancy and Raleigh both looked at each other and then nodded. Between their debacle with Knifehead and the Australian Jaeger getting torn to pieces, people were beginning to wonder if the Jaeger program was really the best line of defense against the kaiju. “The Australians are building a Mark-V Jaeger that is nearing completion, and Herc Hansen needs a copilot. You worked well together during the Manila drop.”

Raleigh glanced over at Yancy because he had spent the night after that fight drinking with Herc. Drinking alone with Herc. Half of the crew had gone off with Scott Hansen, and the more sensible half, Raleigh amongst them stayed in the hotel bar and then the bar in the engineer’s suite.

Raleigh had got a great picture of Scott Hansen the next morning when he’d gone out for some fresh air. Scott was passed out on the rolling front lawn of their hotel, face down without pants. Wasn’t funny now, though, Yancy reflected.  
“I’d like you to go down to Sydney. Spend some time with Hansen.”

Raleigh’s eyes were hard when he looked at Pentecost, and then at Yancy. “Sir.” .

“Tendo will let you know about your travel plans,” Pentecost replied. He turned and left.

“Bullshit,” said Raleigh.

“Ray,” said Yancy - if Raleigh was going to have to do this, Herc Hansen was the type of pilot Yancy wanted him with. “You might not even be drift compatible.”

Raleigh instantly relaxed. “Yeah,” he said. “And Sydney’s pretty warm this time of year, too, eh?”

Yancy nodded, then glanced down at his legs. He was just about walking on the prosthetics, but he didn’t know if he was performing well enough that he’d be able to navigate a Shatterdome with them. He glanced over at Kyle, who seemed to be considering the same thing. Kyle shrugged his shoulders. Later, they would decide he’d travel in a wheelchair but bring both sets with him. After all, who knew how long they would be? Yancy didn’t like it, because it was one thing for people in Anchorage to see him, but…

He didn’t want anyone new to see him like this, let alone a whole Shatterdome with three Jaeger crews. And now that it was happening he felt something unsettle deep in his gut – here he’d been pushing for Raleigh to get back into a Conn Pod, but now that it was about to happen… what was Yancy supposed to do, roll behind him and cheerlead?

* * *

“Hey,” Raleigh said, as Yancy rolled himself towards the small charter jet they were flying to Sydney. “No one’s gonna…”

“Yes they are,” Yancy said. “Every fucking person in PPDC knows who I am, what happened…” he waved his hand at his leg and sighed. “What’s left.”

“Fuck, you’re not…” Raleigh sighed. They’d done this, back and forth, so many times, after Raleigh had asked him to open up. Yancy scowled, and Raleigh put a hand on his shoulder. As he stood behind him, on his legs. Yancy clenched a fist, like his one therapist had told him to do.

“Becket Boys!” Tendo shouted from the plane door - he was coming down with them to consult on Sydney’s LOCCENT software. “Get a move on! There is actual sunshine waiting for us...and twins.”

Yancy rolled his eyes. Echo Sabre’s pilots had quite the reputation. Sydney, in general, had a reputation as being jammed full of dysfunctional Shatterdome personnel - and from what Yancy heard, it was deserved, what with Scott Hansen, the Kiwi twins, and Vulcan Sceptre’s married pilots.

“He’s going for a threesome,” Yancy said to Raleigh.

“I’m not even betting you on that,” Raleigh replied. “And he’ll get away with it, too.”

“I think those stupid bow ties are the source of his power,” Yancy replied. Raleigh laughed, and then they headed down the rest of the runway. Raleigh glanced back after he walked a few feet - clearly wondering if Yancy was coming. Yancy smiled at him.

His smile dropped when he saw that there were several other people on the plane. They had both been out of the loop at the Anchorage Shatterdome for several months now - looked like more than a few people were headed out. It made sense, though, the Icebox only had Jaeger now.

Raleigh was right by his side, anticipating his anxiety, and offered him his hand so he didn’t make a fool of himself transferring from his chair to the couch seat in the back of the plane. Yancy tried not to be aware of the eyes on him - part of him wanted to wave what remained of his legs at them, to flip them off, but no, _Yancy, behave!_ It was one of Raleigh’s constant retorts, when they were kids. 

“Want me to strap the chair in, Yance?” Tendo asked, as Yancy tugged his seatbelt on. He nodded his head, followed Tendo’s gaze down to where his legs should be and gave him a slight smile. You couldn’t help but look - but Tendo got a pass, because he’d been there and he’d sat through a lot of Yancy’s bullshit and would sit through more bullshit to come.

Raleigh took the couch across from Yancy and opened up his tablet. They had sent them both the confidential reports on the Lucky Seven incident, though what, exactly, Scott Hansen had done was blacked out. “That’s some real shit, then,” Raleigh said. “Occasional drug-use, dubious sexual consent, all that gets glossed over…he seemed nice. Even when he sort of passed out on the lawn.”

“He seemed like he could do something really stupid and get caught up in something worse,” Yancy said. Raleigh considered this for a moment and pressed his lips together.

“Hansen has a son just out of the Academy,” Raleigh said, “So, he could...right? Why not?”

“Maybe because he’s fifteen?” Yancy asked. Raleigh shrugged his shoulders - and, yeah, he had been seventeen when they’d turned up at the Academy, but those two years made a huge difference.

* * *

Rolling out of the plane’s exit, Yancy sighed. He had figured Sydney would have sent someone to meet them but he hadn’t anticipated they’d get Herc Hansen and Pentecost.

Raleigh set his duffle bag down and stood at attention, even as Pentecost and Hansen stood there and looked like old college roommates getting back together.

“You’ve met Raleigh and Yancy,” Pentecost said, turning towards them, and Hansen nodded. He’d shoved his hands in his pockets.

“Good to see you both,” Hansen said, and Yancy met his eyes when he felt Hansen turn his attention to him. Then Hansen immediately looked away as something toddled between him and Pentecost. “Oi! Max!”

Raleigh bent down and intercepted the dog - no, puppy, Yancy corrected himself. The thing was all wrinkles and its paws indicated it probably was going to double in size at some point. “Aren’t you something?” Raleigh asked.

“M’sons,” Herc said, “Graduation present. Max.” 

Raleigh scrunched at the puppy’s ears and grinned - he’d always wanted a dog. “Hey, Max,” he said. “You’re adorable.”

“Max!” Yancy turned his attention to the approaching teenager - clearly in the awkward stage, despite having graduated from the Academy and being in peak physical fitness. Chuck Hansen was all too-long limbs, freckles, and a smattering of acne across his forehead. “Sorry, sir, Marshall, sir,” he said, and picked up the leash that the puppy had dragged behind him.

“Still getting used to him,” Hansen said, mostly to Pentecost.

Chuck stared at Yancy. Most people were covert about it, or at least tried to be, but Chuck just stared at him while he crouched down and picked Max up. He stared even as Yancy held his gaze, though he blushed slightly.

“Chuck, this is Raleigh and Yancy Becket,” Hansen said.

Raleigh smiled at Chuck and leaned over to rub Max’s head, rather than shake Chuck’s hand. “Congrats,” he said. “Getting through the Academy is no small feat, and at fifteen?”

“Thank you,” Chuck said, and his voice was soft. He was six years younger than Raleigh, though the difference was pretty remarkable.

Yancy rolled towards him and held out his hand. “Chuck,” he said.

“Sir,” Chuck replied. His grip was tight, at least, but he couldn’t help but glance down again. Yancy almost didn’t mind - at least the kid wasn’t trying to hide his fascination.

“None of that bullshit,” Yancy said. Everyone kept calling him Ranger Becket, sir - it was nice, good sentiment, everyone. But it was bullshit, now, he didn’t even have a job in the PPDC. They were funding him and his recovery because they felt obligated to do so. “Yancy is fine.”

“You boys want the tour? Chuck can take you around,” Hansen said, and Yancy nodded.

“Thank you, sir,” he said.

“Aw, really, no, Herc,” Hansen replied, and gave him the same smile he had gave him in Manila. Yancy resisted the urge to look down.

Thankfully, further conversation was interrupted when Tendo finally emerged with the various bags he had brought stashed with computer supplies and coffee.

“Tendo Choi, sir,” he said, extending his hand to Herc.

“Excellent,” said Herc. “We’re gonna need to get you to look at the software in Striker, as well, it’s not responding to what we’ve got in LOCCENT and giving everyone headaches.” At the mention of the Jaeger, Yancy watched Chuck’s eyes light up. _Well,_ he thought, _this will make things interesting._  

“I can take you down to the Bay, then to your room,” Chuck said. Max had already started, tugging hard at the leash and wiggling his stump of a tale. Yancy sighed - he knew how that went.

Vulcan Scepter was out on maneuvers, leaving that Bay largely empty, but Echo Sabre was getting work done. Chuck scooped up Max as they approached. “Oi, look at your little sprog,” said one of the techs, and he massaged Max’s ears and grinned.

“Yancy and Raleigh Becket,” Chuck said, “this is Echo’s Chief of Operations, Jack Traeger.”

“Nice to have you boys here,” he said, and extended a hand. He was probably about Yancy’s age. Yancy shook - Traeger did a decent job of not staring at him, at least.

“Is that little Charlie?” said someone from behind the Jaeger’s supports, and Chuck winced and looked down at the puppy in his arms. Yancy nodded at him and held his arms out. Chuck gave him a slight smile and handed him Max, who seemed all too happy to lick Yancy’s face.

The twins were better looking in person, Yancy had to admit - dark hair, light blue eyes, tall and naturally tanned from their well-documented sessions on the Shatterdome’s roof top deck. “It’s Chuck,” Chuck said, as one of them embraced him and grinned at him. “And this is Raleigh and Yancy Becket.”

“Oh, hello,” said the twin who wasn’t hugging Chuck Hansen. “Hanna Paulson.” She grinned at Raleigh and looked him up and down. Yancy narrowed his eyes.

“Nicky Paulson,” said the other twin, and she moved away from Chuck and held her hand out to Yancy. She stared - but she was definitely trying to figure out if his dick still worked. Double amputee was clearly something she had not ticked off her list. Yancy gave her a toothy grin.

“Nice of PPDC to send you down here on vacation, yeah?” asked Hanna. Yancy looked her over, trying to find some kind of distinguishing mark or characteristic, but the women were pretty much identical - and the type of twins who had the same haircuts, dressed the same, even seemed to do their makeup the same. They always creeped Yancy out a bit - he hated when they’d been stationed with the Gage brothers.

“Not too much sunshine in Alaska,” Raleigh admitted. Max wiggled into Yancy’s lap, content, and began to fall asleep, complete with little snoring sounds.

“I’ll, uh, show you LOCCENT and the cafeteria and your room,” Chuck said. One of the twins gave him a lascivious grin, and Chuck quickly turned and walked out of the bay.

“Well, that was about what I expected,” Raleigh said, and Yancy nodded.

“They’re something,” Chuck agreed, and he was still a little red from the encounter - but more like he had just been touched in an inappropriate way and less like he wasn’t sure how to flirt with two attractive women. Yancy sighed.

This was going to be a clusterfuck.

* * *

The mess was more crowded than he was used to - there were three crews in Sydney and the research and science center that had moved down from Tokyo because of the frequency of attacks up there. Yancy paused when they entered, not sure how he was going to navigate the narrows spaces between the table.

“Becket Boys!” Thank god for Tendo, he thought, because he had secured a whole table right on the periphery.

“Fuck, you’re right,” Raleigh said, as they went over. “Everyone does try real hard not to look.”

“Yeah, well, the Pilot that Lived,” Yancy replied. Only pilot to ever survive a kaiju pulling him out of the Conn Pod, all thanks to Raleigh and his quick thinking at disabling Knifehead. All thanks to that fishing boat that they had saved. _Yeah, suck it, Stacker,_ he thought.

“You get the grand tour?” Tendo asked. “Herc’s bringing the rest of the food down.” Sydney seemed to serve family style, and there was two kinds of meat in gravy, mashed potatoes, carrots, and some limp sort of green vegetable Yancy didn’t recognize. Pretty standard.

“We met the twins,” Raleigh said, and raised his eyes at Tendo.

“Me too, Rals,” Tendo said, and he grinned slightly. “Me too.”

“They flirt with everyone,” Yancy said. “They flirt with Chuck.”

“Oi, don’t get me started,” said Herc, appearing with more trays - noodles, a sort of Asian stir fry, some legitimately nice looking vegetables. “Not sure what you boys might like.”

“Thank you, sir,” said Yancy.

“They’re the ones responsible for the countdown, you ever hear about that,” Herc said, serving himself some potatoes and what now appeared to be pork. Yancy went for the noodles.

The statement hung between them for awhile. Raleigh, of course, was the one who bit. “Countdown?”

“Until Chuck is sixteen,” Herc said, and narrowed his eyes. 

“Is he not eating with us?” Yancy asked, as Raleigh tried very hard not to laugh.

“With Mako,” Herc said, and canted his head toward another table where Chuck and Mako were seated with some of the techs from Striker Eureka. “She just graduated as well.”

Raleigh smiled, slightly. He had always got on well with Stacker’s daughter - he did kids, teenagers, whatever they were a hell of a lot better than Yancy did. Yancy was mostly perplexed by them, and what they wanted, even when they were capable of articulating their basic needs. Babies, forget about it.

Tendo glanced at Raleigh, then Yancy, and Yancy knew all too well what he was saying. Chuck had been polite, but Yancy knew he would cut Raleigh if it meant he would get into Striker with his dad. He’d seen him looking at Raleigh when Raleigh had become fascinated by something shiny off in the distance. Mako had the same intensity. And then there was Raleigh, who didn’t want the position at all. Even if Herc Hansen was as universally compatible as people claimed, Raleigh was probably the best possible match for him. Yancy sighed.

The rest of lunch was perfunctory - what was going in Anchorage, what the problems were with Sydney’s software, was the Becket’s room adequate? They’d been put in one of the family suites, and Yancy had cursed and wanted to punch the wall when he saw the rails that had been installed in the bathroom, the low height of the one bed so he’d be able to get himself in and out of his chair. _ _You need ‘accommodations,’__ he thought.

Later, as he rolled down the hall, trying to acclimate himself to the larger layout, he jumped in his seat when he heard Herc Hansen behind him. “Becket.”

“Sir,” he said, and turned his head.

“Let’s get a coffee,” Herc said. “I’ve got some real stuff in my office.” Yancy nodded, and followed.

He wasn’t surprised to see that a fresh pot was ready and waiting. Herc poured Yancy a cup and handed it to him, then met his eyes.

“I, uh...not a good way to say it, is there?” Herc asked.

“Not really,” Yancy replied.

“I. Well...in Manila, I…” Herc trailed off, and Yancy resisted the urge to grin. Herc was one of the most emotionally constipated people he had ever met - except when intoxicated. They’d stayed up all night, high on victory and very drunk on decent whiskey, talking about everything and anything while they demolished a sizable bottle of Maker’s Mark. Yancy had almost cried at the sight of it - all of the whiskey he’d had, until then, had potentially been stored and/or brewed in someone’s bathtub or came in a drab PPDC ration bottle. 

He remembered, as Raleigh showed him his picture of Scott Hansen passed out on the lawn, how incredulous his little brother had been that Yancy and Herc had just sat on the balcony. Raleigh had given him that look when Yancy returned to their room in the morning. All Yancy could do was shake his head. We just talked - he was, like, the first legitimate person I’ve talked to in awhile aside from you, Yancy said. He had thought, first adult, but didn’t tell Raleigh that.

“This place is like an asylum,” Herc said, finally. “Good to have someone with some sense around here.” He sipped his coffee and gave Yancy a slight smile.

It had only taken Raleigh five minutes, that morning in Manila, to tease Yancy about the massive crush he had developed. Yancy didn’t want to think about that, now - it was for another life, one where he was whole.

“Look, Becket-”  
“Yancy,” he said, and then had to look down for a moment. “It’s easier, since there’s two of us.”

“Yeah,” Herc agreed, and smiled slightly. “Pentecost said Raleigh doesn’t want...but you want him to?” Yancy nodded. If they told Yancy he could pilot with the prosthetics, he would have. “I’d prefer him over Chuck. Mako. I know your brother’s not that old, but-”

“I understand,” Yancy said.

“Next one off the line, it’s for the two of them,” Herc said. “But, after…Lucky Seven. Well.” Yancy nodded again. Herc sipped at his coffee. “Tendo said you’re pretty up on the Jaeger software.”

“Well, I did all of Gipsy’s upgrades with him, but that’s-”

“Still.” Herc said.

“OK,” Yancy said, and appreciated that Herc was acknowledging what he was doing here and wasn’t acting like he was offering based on Yancy’s computer skills. “Sure.”

“Great,” Herc said. “The whole interface is fucked - you’d think, Mark-V, all the engineers they bring in...and not one of ‘em figures they should consult a pilot on how to get the shit to run.” Oh, Yancy thought, and he nodded his head. So maybe it wasn’t entirely a donation, give the crippled kid something to do. “Anyway, it’s uh...good to have you boys here.”

“Nice to be here,” Yancy said. “Actual sunshine.”

“Yeah,” Herc said. “There’s a rooftop deck, lots of people use it. You just have to watch out for the twins, yeah?” He rolled his eyes. “Too many pilots, it goes to their head…” He looked to the side, then, and Yancy averted his gaze as well. “Well.”

“Thanks for the coffee, sir,” Yancy said.

“Herc, please.”

“Herc.”

Back in their room, he realized he probably should be grateful for the suite - the accommodations they’d made for him back in Anchorage had only served to make their bunk more cramped. “Hey, Rals,” he called, and peered into the small bedroom Raleigh had. His sweaters and clothes were already all over the place. “Don’t think you’re going to need any of those sweaters.”

“It could get cool in the evening,” Raleigh called from the bathroom. He stepped out with a towel on his waist. Yancy couldn’t help but look - the scars from the drive suit were still deep and dark. He was just starting to build back his lost muscle. “So, you and Herc had your second date.”

“He wants me to work with Tendo on the LOCCENT software.”

“I heard he doesn’t share his coffee with just anyone,” Raleigh replied, and arched an eyebrow. “And I bet he doesn’t stay up all night and drink whiskey with just everyone.”

“Raleigh,” Yancy said. He was being a dick - Yancy could have had Herc, probably in Manila, if he had made the move. But he wasn’t going to have him now, no one was going to…

“Sorry,” Raleigh said, but he wasn’t. Yancy closed his eyes for a moment. He wanted to punch something. Raleigh went on, “Gym?”

“Yeah,” he said. “Should probably work with…” he nodded over at the prosthetics in the corner. He and Kyle had been right in thinking it would be difficult to navigate the Shatterdome until he was able to get in the more advanced pair – which meant he needed to practice in that one. Raleigh nodded back.

Yancy was glad that the gym was empty when they came, and he set himself up on the parallel bars that he was sure had been placed there especially for him. He felt like he was getting the hang of the legs, but it was learning the amount of pressure to use to get the knee joint to bend that was difficult. He glanced over at the punching bag - he could probably just about stand on them.

Then the doors opened and Chuck Hansen walked in. He looked less gawky in his workout clothes - had more muscle than most kids his age. And a shit ton of freckles. “All right if I..?” He asked, and glanced over at Yancy, curious.

“Yeah,” Raleigh said. He got this slight grin on his face. “We could head for the kwoon, if you want.”

Yancy smiled and had to wonder about ghost drift - could his brother feel him, still? Or could he not because of how he had been wrenched away from him? He shook his head.

“Really?” Chuck asked.

“Sure,” Raleigh said. “You’re a Ranger. I’m a Ranger.”

“Not a Ranger,” Chuck said, and he glanced down. “Don’t have a Jaeger-”

“You’re a Ranger if you graduate,” Yancy said - after all, the kid had done all of the maneuvers in the training Jaegers they had at the Academy. Chuck glanced over at him, looked at Yancy’s legs again. Yancy met his gaze.

“OK,” Chuck said, and Raleigh grinned.

Yancy approached the punching bag when they left. It wasn’t too far away, but each step fucking hurt. He wasn’t prepared for that, how the nerves in his legs - his stumps, he corrected himself - felt like they were on fire where they met the prosthetic. He ground his jaw and carefully made each step, though, and stood in front of the bag. It took a moment to get aligned, to get the stance and center of gravity right.

He hit it lightly. Pain shot up, and into his spine. Got to do it, he thought to himself, and he hit again, a little harder. He couldn’t help the small groan that escaped, and he closed his eyes. He rocked back, slightly, tried to get himself better aligned inside the prosthetics. He punched again and it felt better, less like he was going to die, and-

Yancy turned and saw Mako standing in the doorway with fucking Pentecost. “Sir,” he said. “Ms. Mori.” They seemed like they had something planned. Mako was doing her best not to look, and he almost wanted to invite her to stare. Just get it out of the way. He appreciated Chuck, in that regard.

“Ranger Becket,” Pentecost said. “I didn’t realize anyone was using the facility.”

“I was just...you could come in,” Yancy said, awkward. He had to roll himself forward in the prosthetics and he winced.

Pentecost stepped inside and arched an eyebrow at him. Yancy couldn’t hold his groan in. His legs were burning at this point and so was his spine. He nodded at Pentecost, who wrapped an arm around his waist. Mako watched as Yancy sat down in a chair. “Mako, would you mind..?”

She shook her head. Yancy grimaced as he pulled each prosthetic off. Mako rolled his wheelchair next to him.

“It’s a process,” Stacker said. Yancy wanted to ask him how he knew, but he didn’t.

“Yes,” he said.

“I noticed Raleigh in the kwoon with Chuck.”

“He offered,” Yancy said.

“The two of them have rather similar styles,” Stacker said. “Though not really compatible.” Yancy had never seen the younger Hansen fight, and he was a bit surprised - Chuck came off as polite, maybe taciturn. But Herc was a brawler, not really formally trained in anything since he’d started in the Mark-I days, so it made sense Chuck might have adopted that style.

Stacker watched as Yancy swung the chair around and used his arms to get himself into the wheelchair. “Did anyone tell you there’s a pool?” he asked.

“No,” Yancy said, but it didn’t surprise him.

“Good cardio,” Mako said, softly. “Without wear on joints.”

“Thank you, sir, Ms. Mori,” he said. “I will have to look into that.”


	2. Chapter 2

Herc hadn’t expected to encounter anyone in the pool - few people seemed to use it, despite the quality of workout that you could get from it. Just old men like him and Stacker, it seemed, who had to be conscious of wear and tear on the joints. Gentle workouts. He’d been swimming since he was six or seven, though, had gone to some regional meets and training camps when he was a teenager but he never managed to shave off those last few crucial seconds. It turned out to be worth it, though, put him in good stead for the RAAF training. For the PPDC.

Then he saw Yancy Becket in his wheelchair, wearing a pair of tight fitting PPDC swimming trunks and considering the ramp down into the pool with interest and confusion.

Herc was surprised to see him – from what he’d noticed over the past few days Yancy didn’t seem to appreciate people staring at him. Yet here he was, completely exposed. Maybe Herc had read his response wrong. Anyone could have seen him, down here – he certainly wasn’t hiding.

The tight trunks he’d got from somewhere ended only two or three inches above where his legs did. The surgical scars were fading but there were several lines that looked like they were from the damage that Yancy sustained at the hands – mouth – of the kaiju. Herc was only focused there for a moment or two, though, before his gaze drew up to Yancy’s body, his face. He was thinner, he looked exhausted, but he was still just as attractive as he’d been in Manila.

“You know how to swim, Becket?” Herc asked, standing up from where he had been stretching, when it was clear that the kid was trying to figure out how he was going to manage with his legs dragging behind him. Herc made a note to get one of the techs on getting him a pair of water ready prosthetics.

For now, though, Herc knew what to do.

“Sir, I’m-”

“Herc,” Herc said firmly, as he went over to the small closet and opened it.

“Yancy,” replied Becket, and Herc grinned slightly into the closet - he acutely remembered the first time Becket had corrected him and suggested his first name, two glasses of whiskey in while they watched the sun set. He had been leaning back on his arms and had his knees up. He had looked gorgeous in the light. It picked up the slight ginger in his blonde hair and highlighted the sharp cut to his jaw.

“Had a mate who, uh…” Herc said, as he pulled out the leg buoy and straps. “Same thing, in Afghanistan.” Yancy met his eyes and nodded. Herc held the equipment up to him. “Put this in between, up high where you can…” _clutch it,_ he finished, internally, because he couldn’t think of the appropriate word to say aloud, “...get a good grip on it. Then work the strap through and around your legs. Should do it.”

“OK,” Yancy said. Herc handed him the items and smiled. Yancy smiled back. “I hope you don’t mind. Mako told me-”

“There’s four lanes,” Herc said, and then, to give Yancy privacy, he slid into the lane furthest from the ramp. He did an easy warm up - one hundred arms with his own buoy, one hundred legs only, one hundred freestyle.

Herc turned when he was done and was pleased to see Yancy moving through the water. His stroke was rough and choppy and he wasn’t turning his body like he should, but he was at least progressing through the water.

Herc started swimming and did his best not to think about Yancy - which meant, of course, in the silence of the water, that he thought about Yancy. He had really been doing well until he had seen him in the swimming shorts.  
He pushed himself into a moderately paced two hundred medley. His butterfly was fucking rusty, and it hurt, but that was what he wanted.

 _You might be drifting with his brother, you donger,_ he thought. Wouldn’t do for Raleigh to see nothing but the thoughts of what he wanted to do to Yancy…just like he’d never wanted to see anything that Scott wanted to do. Herc sighed as he kept swimming.

He was a little bit of Scott, now. He’d certainly been subjected to enough bleed over from his dumb ass younger brother. Herc had to tolerate so much, reported him so many times -because beating kaiju was more important than keeping the more popular, more attractive, more talkative Hansen brother on a leash. He’d finally done it, though, stupid enough to think that he could take what he wanted from that U.S. general’s daughter.

When Herc pulled up to rest at the end of his set he noticed Yancy hanging onto the bar on the ramp and smiling slightly. “Guess you do know how to swim,” he said.

“Oi, did a bit in school,” Herc replied. “Mostly middle distance, IM.”

“Yeah,” Yancy said.

“Could fix that stroke of yours,” Herc said, then added, “next time, if-”

“That’d be good,” Yancy said. In the water, despite the fact he had a flotation buoy stuck between his legs, he seemed to forget what he was missing. There was usually acute pain and frustration written across his face, sorrow, too, and Herc couldn’t blame him. He remembered what it had been like with Brendan when they’d got back. “Don’t mean to interrupt your workout.”

Herc shook his head and then, to avoid anything more awkward, tugged his goggles back on and decided a lengthy freestyle set was in order.

He judged it right. When he was done, Becket and his wheelchair were gone, weren’t even in the shower anymore. Herc sighed as he pulled himself out of the pool. _Stupid old man,_ he told himself.

* * *

“Thought we’d have dinner to ourselves, yeah?” Herc said when he got back to the suite he and Chuck shared. Chuck was reading some calculus textbook and wrinkled his nose at the smell of chlorine. Despite Herc’s best efforts the kid had never really taken to water. Chuck ran his hand over the small puppy form at his side.

“Yeah, OK,” he said, and didn’t look up. Herc knew the tone, though - _you better not have something to say to me, old man._ You would think he wouldn’t be such a twat, seeing as how he wanted to pilot a Jaeger with Herc.

“I’m gonna shower, yeah - you put the order in?” Herc asked. Chuck just nodded, stroked Max again. Herc shook his head.

He stroked himself almost as soon as he got in the shower and it was almost unconscious. He sighed - get a grip, he said, and then laughed at himself as he pulled his hand up and down his dick. Though maybe this was better - it wasn’t Yancy Becket, he just needed to get laid. How quick he came definitely backed up that thought.

“Were you gonna tell me about the Becket scoming down here?” Chuck asked, when Herc stepped out in a clean henley and sweats. Was this really the first time they’d had to talk since the brothers had arrived?

“Wasn’t my decision,” Herc said. Not technically, at least. Pentecost wouldn’t have brought Raleigh here if Herc had vetoed the idea.

“But you knew about it,” Chuck said. “That Jaeger-”

“What, you piss on its foot and claim it for yourself?” Herc asked - and then it hit him. It wasn’t just that he was intending on piloting Striker Eureka with Raleigh, if he got his way, it was that he had got Lucky Seven torn to scraps. Chuck probably wouldn’t have cared if he wasn’t Herc’s copilot, so long as Chuck had his own Jaeger. And that had been what everyone said since he and Mako entered the Academy, wasn’t it? The two survivors. A little presumptuous that he thought the two of them would get the Mark V - and proof enough, as far as Herc was concerned, that neither of them should be near it’s Conn Pod.

“Look, Chuck-”

“You just have to screw everything-”

“You want to be pissed at someone for that, be pissed at your goddamn uncle!” Herc said. Chuck was standing, suddenly, and Herc was immediately struck by the fact that Chuck had, at some point in the past three months, become as tall as he was. 

“Yeah, because you couldn’t hold a neural handshake with someone who actually-”

“With a rapist!” Herc said, and then his mouth snapped shut. The girl had been around Chuck’s age, and he had never planned on telling Chuck about it. Which was yet another misstep, on his part, something Angela would have known not to do.

Chuck had liked Scott. Scott was the fun uncle who took Chuck on adventures and let him visit places in the Shatterdome Herc never let him. Beyond that, Scott never had a hard time showing affection, hugging, praising Chuck when he’d done something well. But after the drift that morning, Herc had ordered Scott to never speak to Chuck - suddenly remembering some of the images in drift, wondering, and…

“What?” Chuck said.

“When the U.S. General came down to inspect things, brought his girl - then we had the drop, three days later,” Herc said. He felt deflated, and he hoped that Chuck wasn’t going to make him elaborate.

“Oh,” Chuck said, and he sat back down on the ragged couch where Max had fallen asleep. Herc sat down next to him. He should have told him - but he shouldn’t be in a position where he had to explain how his uncle nearly got him killed because he raped someone actually younger than Chuck. These were the things no one talked about, even on Kodiak Island, how you might see something like that through the eyes of the perpetrator. Herc draped his arm around him and Chuck accepted it.

Herc had never been more relieved for food to get delivered.

* * *

Herc wasn’t entirely sure what Pentecost had in mind when he said he needed to get to know Raleigh. Turned out Pentecost wasn’t really sure, either.

“Engage with him. Talk. See what you think.”

“Think about what?” Herc asked, and crossed his arms. “We know I’m just about universally compatible, so that’s not-”

“If you want to drift with him,” Pentecost said. “It’s Becket or a recruit, and…I know you’re compatible, Herc, but what the kid described to our psychs – I won’t order you, to let that in, if you don’t want to, after-”

“Right,” Herc said. He couldn’t imagine - he felt a slight lack, a space where Scott used to be, but he had actively done his best to resist letting Scott in.

So Herc did the only thing that he could think of doing with another person when you were supposed to talk with them, and asked Raleigh if he wanted to go and get a drink. 

Raleigh agreed. “Yeah, I guess we have to, huh?”

Herc took him somewhere that he knew the PPDC didn’t frequent. It was a little more expensive, but Herc saw it as an investment. He had a variety of reasons for wanting Raleigh as his co-pilot - kid was damn talented, and even though everyone said that he wasn’t as good as his brother, Herc knew better than most of them that it took two people to pilot a Jaeger. He was experienced, as well, and things were getting a lot thornier out there.

And, of course, he wasn’t Chuck. Or Mako. Or some other kid, all fresh and green. Still a kid, though.

“What do you drink?” Herc asked.

“Uh, beer?” Raleigh said. Herc grinned at him and held two fingers up to the bartender, got something light that they had on tap. “Thanks,” he said.

“Well,” Herc said. “Gotta thank you and your...for coming down.” Raleigh narrowed his eyes at him, as if he could see how Herc felt about Yancy. But then he gave Herc a very small smile.

“Not really a choice, sir,” he replied.

“Herc is all right, we’re not on duty,” Herc said. Raleigh raised his eyebrows - and, yeah, Herc got it, they were never really off-duty. Their beers arrived, and they drank and sat, silent, for a few minutes.

“You want me to do this,” Raleigh said, finally. “Pilot Striker with you.”

Herc nodded. He could have said something flip - _you’re the best out of my options_ \- but instead went for honesty.

“Don’t want it to be Chuck,” he said. “Or Mako. They’re kids.”

Raleigh had been one, too, when he had shown up at the Academy - but that was back when it was all punching giant alien monsters and big hero pilots, when they still thought that they would be able to figure out a way to close the breach any day now.

Raleigh nodded and seemed to appreciate it. “I don’t want to drift with anyone else,” he said. “What I felt…”

“Yeah,” Herc said. “Can’t imagine.” _I’ll take care of you, kid,_ he thought, and wondered how he could convey that. He tried something a little different.

“You know, Chuck, he - he idolizes you boys. Has the action figures and a poster.”

“Really?” Raleigh asked. Then he smiled slightly. “Huh.”

“I mentioned how good you were, once, he said he was going to be better.” Herc said, and grinned slightly. He didn’t know what to do with his kid.

“Yeah, I can see that,” Raleigh said. Another beer appeared, replacing the small amount left in his first glass. He nodded at the bartender.

Three pints in and some small talk later – Herc attempted to explain cricket to Raleigh, who was wide eyed and polite but also have none of it - Herc could see Raleigh was a little intoxicated. And, sure, much as they had this image of big, tough Jaeger pilots, there wasn’t an awful lot of time to drink. And Herc was pretty sure there was a higher alcohol content in the Australian beer, not to mention they’d been drinking pints instead of bottles. “Should get you home, kid, so your brother’s not worried-”

Raleigh interrupted. “You and my brother,” he said. He met Herc’s eyes and there was no doubt what he was referring to.

Herc stopped, surprised. He’d thought he had it pretty well contained. But then he remembered that Raleigh had been in Manila. “I-”

“He’s in a pretty rough place right now,” Raleigh said.

“I can see that,” Herc replied.

“Good,” Raleigh said. “Not that you can’t...but just, you know.” He nodded his head. He was kind of adorable, Herc thought. He sort of wanted to ruffle his hair.

“Understood,” Herc said. “Let me call the car, yeah?”

* * *

“It’s a dialogue,” Herc said to Raleigh two days later as they stood facing one another, “not a fight.”

Raleigh nodded, and Herc realized that given his reluctance, he probably shouldn’t have given him the hint. _Well,_ he thought. He could play that game, too.

Raleigh was a little more technical than he was, his forms more precise, and a little bit more controlled - surprising, given how cavalier the Beckets were in Gipsy Danger, but then again, Yancy had been the dominant pilot. Herc just had to bait him, though, moving to one side and then dodging a jab before Raleigh loosened up and made a rough move for him. Raleigh didn’t anticipate it and Herc was able to swipe him down with his leg, sensing that Raleigh would sync in with him in order to fight back.

He read him right - proving Herc’s assumption that he and the younger Becket would be, at least, initially compatible beyond just the brain scans. He let Raleigh lunge for him and get the point and then grinned at him.  
“Goddamnit,” Raleigh said, then, quickly, “No offense, sir.” He offered Herc his hand.

Herc made eye contact with Yancy, seated in his chair next to Pentecost and Harris, the West Coast Marshal. Yancy nodded at him and smiled.

 _Goddamnit,_ Herc agreed.

* * *

“Look, I get it,” Raleigh said, sitting down next to him in the cafeteria. “You don’t want Chuck in a Jaeger, and he is too young.” Herc poked at some of his shapeless brown meat and met Raleigh’s eyes.

“But.”

“I just don’t know,” Raleigh said. “I know we talked about it, but I don’t want...anyone else in my head.” He was scared, Herc realized. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to have to share the experience, he didn’t want to have to relive it himself. “I was so...alone.”

Herc nodded and understood the feeling, though luckily for him it was to a much lesser degree than Raleigh had experienced. When the neural connection had wavered with Scott he felt a strange sort of loss, like a part of him was missing and he wouldn’t quite be able to function without it. But it was easier with Scott. He functioned better without him. 

“OK,” Herc said. “But I’m pretty good at-”

“I’ve read the files, sir,” Raleigh said. He poked at his food again. Herc had thought things had improved, between them, after the trip to the bar. Apparently the fight in the kwoon had made it clear that PPDC was going to try and move forward with this, at least to a test drift.

“Is that your only objection?” Herc asked.

He felt bad - Raleigh looked a bit defeated, and Herc didn’t want to force him to say it out loud, but sometimes, that helped.

“I don’t want to leave him.” Raleigh said.

His voice was soft and he glanced over where Yancy was seated with Tendo and some of the other LOCCENT techs, presumably talking about the software upgrades they’d been working on. Herc was glad Yancy was fitting in, was proving a valuable asset and a quick learner.

“I understand that,” Herc said, and he nodded over at Chuck, who was eating with Mako and some of the other graduates who’d been assigned to the Shatterdome out of the Academy. “They want to roll the Mark V out for morale reasons,” he said. “So they’re pushing us to find a pilot team.”

“Right,” Raleigh said. He looked over at Chuck again - and Chuck was just eating, not talking to the rest of the group, a determined set to his jaw. “I guess there’s no good way around this one, huh?”

“Never is,” Herc said. “Not in this war.”

* * *

“So,” Yancy said, and Herc turned - he hadn’t expected him to follow him out of the cafeteria after he talked to Raleigh. “You have a little heart-to-heart with my dumbass little brother?”

Herc tilted his head towards his office and Yancy nodded. Sydney seemed to be doing him some good. His face had a little bit more color in it. And after everyone had got in their first, and second look, they seemed to mostly have accepted him rolling through the corridors.

Herc put the coffee on and took a seat. “You’re lucky Tendo hasn’t got into your stash yet,” Yancy said.

“Yeah, well,” Herc said. “Heard he brought a whole suitcase of stuff with him.”

“I would not be surprised,” Yancy said.

“I’m not gonna force him into anything-”

“Raleigh? Hell, no, no one is, not even Pentecost,” Yancy said. “He’s scared.”

“Shouldn’t be,” Herc said. “But, I know. We talked about that.” He poured their coffee.

“There’s also…” Yancy pressed his lips together and looked off into the distance. “He’s never gonna say this, but...he didn’t have a lot of luck, in the Academy. He’s a great pilot now, but…”

Herc nodded - he had read it in the Becket’s files. Yancy had been the natural at the Academy, the one who had quickly learned and adapted to training, the one who had established the neural handshake between the two of them. That wouldn’t be a problem, though, Herc had taken the same role. Raleigh had been brought along because of his high levels of compatibility with his star brother - the consummate little brother. Herc knew what that felt like, a little bit, from drifting with Scott. And he was the shittier older brother, clearly, because where Raleigh had improved Scott had degenerated. 

“You, uh, still offering a swimming lesson?” Yancy asked. His voice was softer and higher, and it took Herc a moment to remember that he had offered him in the first place. Yancy was blushing a bit, as well. Herc heard Raleigh’s voice in his head and wondered if this was really something he should get into, right now, given everything.

“Yeah,” Herc said. “I’m usually in the pool from, uh, four to five.”

“OK,” Yancy said. “Cause I am sore…” He rubbed at his shoulder, and Herc nodded.

* * *

“Herc Hansen, you are not a nice man,” said one of the twins, behind him, and Herc sighed. They generally weren’t on the roof if there wasn’t sufficient sunlight to tan. Herc had figured he was safe.

“What’d I do now Hanicky?” he asked. Despite the fact they insisted on making it impossible for anyone to tell them apart, even going so far as to insist on matching hickeys when necessary, they hated it when Herc conflated their names.

“You go and play with that new baby pilot in the kwoon and don’t tell anyone,” said Nicky, coming around to his front. Herc had found their one distinguishing difference - a small scar that Nicky had on her cheek from an infected cat scratch when she was a child, barely visible, but there.

“It was for assessment purposes,” Herc said. “Not entertainment.”

Hanna appeared around front as well and cocked her head. Herc narrowed his eyes, not entirely sure what they wanted - they had come to silent and mutually enforced detente, recently. “Your brother-”

“Nope,” Herc cut her off. “Not responsible.” Herc considered the two of them. So maybe it hadn’t just been convenient sex - you’re a hot Jaeger pilot, I’m a hot Jaeger pilot.

“He’s your brother,” Nicky said.

“I never claimed responsibility for him,” Herc replied. Well, he had, when Scott had been a kid. But that had ended as soon as he had left for the RAAF. 

“He hasn’t called,” said Hanna. Herc laughed out loud, surprised she was going to admit it. Plus, it was funny - the one person that one or both of them fell for.

“I’m sorry,” Herc said, and he had an internal debate - he could end their disappointment by letting them know what they were missing out on. But the two of them couldn’t keep their mouths shut, and the General’s daughter did not deserve people knowing. “Don’t know where he got off to.”

“You ruin everyone’s fun around here, Herc,” said Nicky.

“I try,” Herc said. “I was trying to have a smoke in peace, you know.”

“Naughty,” said Hanna, and held out her hand. Herc sighed, but it was probably worth shutting both of them up. It didn’t last long, though. “When are you drifting with Baby Becket?”

“Would love to see that piece of machinery in action,” Nicky added. Herc closed his eyes and sighed, then turned and headed for the steps.

* * *

Herc hadn’t expected Yancy to show up - had thought that maybe the kid was just being nice, or...reaching for something to say, but there he was, in his chair, wearing the same swim shorts. “I, uh…” Yancy said. He and Herc stared at each other for awhile, and Herc couldn’t help but look at those scars again, the space where something should be. “Your friend?” Yancy said, finally.

“Helicopter crash,” Herc said. “I got injured too - broke my collarbone, some bad burns,” he said. Burns from pulling Brendan out, mangled and- “Got sent home, too, though...it coulda just as well been me, you know.” Yancy nodded his head.

“Everyone else looks at me, like…” Yancy shook his head. He already had the equipment in his arms, so Herc just nodded his head at the statement. Brendan had said the same thing. Brendan, the war hero, returned from his tragic and horrible accident. Brendan, symbol of the stupid war the seppos had got them involved in, some good Aussie boy who’d lost just about everything for some stupid war. 

“I’m gonna get in, yeah? While you get yourself set up.” Yancy nodded at him, and Herc slid in and swam through a few loose warm up laps. He turned onto his side to kick and watch as Yancy got into the water, neatly pivoting on his arms up from his chair and onto the bars on the side of the water ramp. And, yeah, Herc was maybe watching how those arm and shoulder muscles moved as he did the maneuvers. Yancy got in easily and tugged with his arms, then bobbed onto his side and swam towards Herc.

“All right,” Yancy said. Herc started by showing him the proper freestyle stroke , how to drag his arm out along his body and how to hold his hand as it entered the water. Yancy picked it up quickly, and was soon moving through the water with ease.

“Now you want to rotate, with the stroke,” Herc said, and he swam a bit to show Yancy. “That brings in the core, you want to hold that solid.”

Yancy took a few strokes before he synced into the stroke. He was, really, a natural, and he completed a lap and swam back to Herc with ease. “You feel how that helps you sort of move through the water, like..?” Herc said. Met his sharp, ice blue eyes.

“Yeah, that’s…” Yancy turned and grinned at him and Herc smiled back, and, before he really thought about it, reached over and touched Yancy’s shoulder.

It felt good. Herc hadn’t really wanted someone in a long time - physically wanted, sure, and he had slept with people since Angie. Hell, he had relationships, but they were never deep or serious. He always said it was because he was a pilot, because he couldn’t really invest in anything.

He had to wonder why Yancy Becket made him feel differently. Probably because he knew – not just what it was like to pilot a Jaeger, but what it was like to experience that acute sense of loss and how you navigated the world after that. Then again, he’d wanted him before all that, the way he smiled and talked about all of the stupid things he and Raleigh had got up to in Anchorage.

Yancy smiled at the touch. Herc pulled his hand back and nodded at him. “Use more of your body, should keep the shoulders from getting sore.” Yancy nodded at this.

“Right,” Yancy said. “I don’t, uh, want to interfere with your swim.” He paused and glanced down. “I appreciate it.”

Herc would have taken this as a sign of rejection from anyone else, but there was something in Yancy’s eyes that suggested it wasn’t. Suggested that he was pushing Herc away before...before he got hurt. “Well, you’re welcome,” Herc said. “We should work some more tomorrow. One lesson doesn’t mean you’re…”

“Oh,” Yancy said. He met Herc’s eyes, almost involuntarily, and the nodded. “Sure.”

* * *

He had left Raleigh to get a better look at Striker Eureka after taking him up on the rigging to see the Conn Pod, and the chest munitions that they were still working on. A tech was on the way to take him inside - Herc had already gone in and seen it, and he wanted to give Raleigh some time alone with the Jaeger. Might change how he felt about things.

“Oi! Old man!” Herc rolled his eyes - of course Chuck would be up here, lurking. He stopped to let his son catch up to him.

“Chuck, it’s not exactly safe up here-”

“I can handle myself,” Chuck said. He was wearing an oversized jacket with sheepskin collar that just emphasized how young he was. Herc sighed. “Hanna said you’re drifting tomorrow with Becket.”

Herc couldn’t stop himself from voicing the initial question. “You talk to Hanna?”

“Can’t avoid ‘em, sometimes,” Chuck said. “She was in the kwoon when Mako and I wanted to go in.” Herc nodded. “With Jasper.”

 _Great,_ Herc thought - that was just what they needed, the two of them getting entangled with Vulcan Sceptre’s marginally married team, Jasper and Sujatmi King. “We are,” he said. “Just in the pons room.”

Chuck squared his jaw at Herc and looked like he wanted to say something really stupid. He managed to keep it in, though, which Herc thought was progress. He recognized that he had a chance with Chuck now that he was out of the Academy and back in Sydney. Not that he could make up for the past five years - but he could at least do better for the next five.

“Chuck, everyone knows - next Mark-V comes out, it’s yours. Yours and Mako’s, yeah?” Herc said.

“And I’m just supposed to wait to be able to-” Chuck stopped, then, and Herc moved a little closer to him. It was like approaching a wild cat. Herc reached and touched his shoulder. His son’s response was different from Yancy’s, and he tensed but at least let Herc’s hand remain for a moment. Herc wasn’t going to test his luck.

“You’re a really talented pilot, Chuck,” Herc said. “Scott and I had to queue up for Lucky Seven, yeah?”

“She should be mine,” Chuck said, and glanced back to Striker. “If the Beckets hadn’t fucked up, ruined _Gipsy_ -”

“Chuck,” Herc said, though he was pleased that he wasn’t getting ascribed blame in this category anymore. And what kind of person did that make him? “We should get down off the rigging - where’s Max?”

“Oh,” Chuck said. “Yeah.” He narrowed his eyes at Herc, then, and Herc let him stomp ahead of him to the open elevator that would take them down to ground level.

Herc found himself exhale - he’d pacified Chuck for now, he thought. But it was a little bit like trying to plug up an active volcano. Herc just wondered how much of it was his age, his hormones, and how much of it was his loss, Herc going off to be a pilot, the kaiju. 

* * *

“So,” Herc said, as the two of them settled in with the Ponns on their heads. Herc looked out the glass window, for a moment, and knew that Chuck and Mako would be there, both hoping for their own reasons that things didn’t work out. Herc wanted to shake some sense into them. “Anything you want to tell me, before we do this?”

“Aside from the whole ‘my brother died in my head’ thing?” Raleigh asked. “Can’t think of anything, really.”

Herc nodded and smiled at him. “Nothing embarrassing?”

Raleigh blushed at this. “Oh, well, ha, don’t think I have time to detail all of that.”

“Gentlemen,” Tendo called from the control room. “Are we ready to initial neural handshake?”

“Yes,” they both said.

“Prepare for initial pons drift sequence in ten,” Tendo said.

Herc closed his eyes and waited. He had thought out several things that could happen once the drift was initiated and they sought a neural handshake. He wasn’t prepared for what he got - Raleigh seemed to be grasping for something that they shared in common that wasn’t nearly dying in a Jaeger, and he latched onto Yancy. 

So there was Yancy Becket, not wanting to wake up and jamming his face in the pillow as Raleigh talked about the girl that he met last night - _She was real hot, Yance, one of the new paramedics - that’s hot, right? Yance? Yaaancy?_ Yancy was just in boxer briefs and Herc tried, but his gaze settled on the muscles in his back, the curve of his ass, and-

There was Yancy Becket, younger, tired, but watching as two men began to talk to Raleigh. History existed there that Herc didn’t quite know, but as soon as a swing was directed at Raleigh, Yancy was immediately in the fray-

There was Yancy Becket, much younger, wearing a makeshift cape and flashlight, a superhero they had created who kept kids safe from the dangers of the Budapest night-

“Neural handshake confirmed. It is holding steady at 98%,” Tendo said.

“Nice work, Rangers,” Pentecost added.

Herc glanced over at Raleigh, whose eyes were still closed. There was a slight, sly smile on his face. _Little shit,_ Herc thought, but then - the fact that he’d actively worked to settle them with his brother, it meant that Raleigh was in on this whole thing. Herc smiled.

“Protocol calls for two more pons sessions before we begin simulations,” Pentecost said. “Tendo, disconnect the neural handshake.”

“Affirmed,” Tendo said.

“Hey, kid,” Herc said, as they slowly exited the drift, a strange spread of images - beach, snow, Max, more beach - bringing them out.

“Hey,” Raleigh said. “Not bad, eh?”

“No,” Herc replied, and almost blushed when he caught the double meaning there.

* * *

Herc opened a bottle of whiskey. Chuck was out for the night in Sydney, going to a movie with some of the other personnel’s kids. Herc had been elated when he heard about it. Would do the boy some good.

Time to ruminate, then.

So here was Herc Hansen’s problem - he had felt that hard pang of attraction when he’d first met Yancy Becket after their drop in Manila, all chiseled jaw and blonde hair. It had only deepened when they had sat and talked through the night, trying to dull their adrenaline high and never quite getting there.

He had to remind himself, each time he reached for the kid’s thigh, that he was most definitely a kid and almost fifteen years younger than Herc no matter how mature he seemed and how much talking to him was like talking to a contemporary. It only made Herc want him more, though, even if it was proof that Yancy had to take on too much when he was young - but he also still maintained a degree of youthful exuberance. A lot more tempered than his brother, but it was still there.

And now a year later and Yancy Becket had turned up in a wheelchair, a double amputee, clearly still reeling from it. There was a deep hurt in his eyes that Herc desperately wanted to take care of - and he thought _fuck, old man, you’ve got it bad, after just one night_. 

Then Herc had drifted with his brother, thought it would end things, because that was just something you didn’t...except it had made him like Yancy even more. And it wasn’t just the memories Raleigh sent him, initially. Even when he wasn’t trying Yancy dominated his thoughts throughout the second and third drifts, those boys were near inseparable, and pushing past how Raleigh thought the world of him and just watching him, Herc found that Yancy probably deserved most of the superlatives.

Herc was, in other words, completely fucked.

There was a knock on the door. Herc knew who it was. “C’mon in,” he said, and Stacker walked in, for once not in his uniform but wearing a PPDC sweater and pants. He nodded at the bottle of whiskey and Herc raised his eyebrows.

“Little celebration?” Herc said.

“Well,” Stacker replied, and sat opposite of him at the table. “I suppose so. I was a little worried about Becket.”

“Yeah,” Herc said. “Took him up to see Striker - thought, maybe, he’d remember, you know…”

Stacker smiled at this and nodded. “Still. Impressive initial handshake - highest we’ve seen for those not related, you know…” Stacker trailed off.

Stacker knew, because Stacker had known him longer than anyone else, at this point - now that Scott was gone. Herc curled his lip in disdain and pushed all of that aside for the moment.

“Well,” Herc said.

“Seems you found something in common that didn’t stir any...didn’t yield any R.A.B.I.T.S.,” Stacker said. There was almost a sly smile on his face and he drank a good deal of the whiskey that Herc had poured for him.

“This gonna be-”

“Our lives are messy now, Hercules,” Stacker interrupted, and nodded at Herc’s glass. They finished together, and Stacker poured more.

“Could say that,” Herc replied.

“So what’s one more complication?” Stacker asked. “Just don’t let it fuck things up between you and your co-pilot.” He said it like it was so easy. Maybe it was. Raleigh had basically given his assent.

Maybe it was - this was the man who had drifted with his dead sister’s lover, after all.

Herc knew what was unsaid, too. None of them knew how much time they had. Stacker was still trying to accept and adjust to his diagnosis. Herc had nearly been torn out of Lucky’s Conn Pod when the neural handshake went to shit. And the Beckets - well.

“Jasp was in the kwoon with Hanna,” Herc said.

“I know,” Stacker said. He leaned back. “They were-”

“Both of ‘em, yeah, with Scott,” said Herc. “Miffed he hasn’t called.”

Stacker shook his head. “I miss Anchorage, despite the cold,” he said. Herc smiled at this.

“Kings are open, at least,” he said. “Or sort of open. Suja proposed a threesome, a couple of months ago.”

“Fuck,” said Stacker. He finished his whiskey and set it down.

They drank for several hours, drifting into conversations on just about everything - good memories of times with Tamsin, those Mark-I glory days, movies that had recently been shown in the Shatterdome, Max, Chuck, whether or not the rumors that the Paulsens had been strippers before turning up for the Jaeger Academy were true or just a typical reaction to their overt sexuality.

That was about when Chuck came in, just as Herc said something about stripper poles. He gave both of them a look and shook his head. Chuck did a good job, Herc thought, with separating Pentecost’s various identities out - his dad’s drinking mate, one of the PPDC Marshalls. He knew he always had to show him a large amount of respect, but there were times when - well.

“Good movie?” Herc asked.

“Girls won out with some romantic comedy,” Chuck said. “You let Max out for the night?”

Herc shook his head and wondered if Chuck had draped his arm over one of the aforementioned girls - or, hell, boys, it wasn’t like Herc cared. He gave him a soft smile. “Want me to?”

Chuck nodded at the whiskey bottle. “If you think you won’t fall into the harbor,” he said, then took the puppy, protesting, from his crate and attached a leash to him.

After he closed the door, Herc said, “Work in progress.”

“Don’t I know it,” Stacker said. How was it they hadn’t mentioned that, Herc wondered? Mako was going through all the same things. Stacker just gave him a rueful smile. “I should tuck in as well, Herc.” he said. Clasped a hand on his arm and nodded.

As soon as he returned with Max and settled him in with Chuck’s sleeping form, Herc went for a shower before bed. Tomorrow was going to be interesting, he thought.

* * *

“It would be weird, you know,” Raleigh said, the next morning when they had the kwoon to themselves. Herc’s hangover had dulled all of the determination to do something that he had mustered while drunk in the shower.

“Sorry?” Herc asked, stretching before he picked up the bo.

“You and Yancy. It would be weird, but you seem to have pretty good control in the drift, so. As long as I don’t have to see you fucking my brother.” Raleigh grinned at him, and it looked all earnest and sweet, but there was a threatening undercurrent to it that made Herc smile. This was the kid he had met in Manila.

“You ready, kid?” he asked. Raleigh flinched. Yancy must have called him that. Herc glanced down and nodded his head, then met Raleigh’s eyes.

“It’s OK, it just-”

“You ready, sprog?” Herc said, and Raleigh gave him a slight smile and nodded.


	3. Chapter 3

“Built in a different comm-feed mechanism than in the Mark-IVs, connecting pilot feedback to LOCCENT,” Tendo grumbled, as he typed on the computer in LOCCENT. He had a bagel in his mouth, which made it difficult for Yancy to understand.

“Why?” Yancy asked. He was seated next to Tendo, drinking coffee and looking at the code as well. He wasn’t sure he understood any of it, but Tendo and Sydney’s Chief LOCCENT Officer, Cobar McArthur, both at least acted like Yancy was helpful. Cobar had a reputation as a surly bastard, but apparently that was due to overwork and stress, because he’d been perfectly pleasant and accommodating to Yancy and Tendo. Today was his first day off in weeks.

“Better overlay in with the latest tech we’ve got here - more pilot data, more data on the neural connection - but you’ve got programmers in Panama City, Tokyo, wherever, and the Jaeger is here…” Tendo shook his head.

“But is the Mark-V’s coding any different?” Yancy asked. He presumed it was, but-

“Yeah, I mean-”

“So, instead of going through and redoing both of them, why not just develop something so that they can talk to each other? I mean, how long would that take, to translate-”

“That, Becket Boy, is an idea,” Tendo said, and he finally tugged the bagel out of his mouth. He slapped him on his back and Yancy hunched, not used to the contact, but then smiled at Tendo.

Yancy clicked out of the screen and handed Tendo some coffee. “You know all this about us, when we’re in there?” he asked, looking at the data screen LOCCENT was presented with during a Jaeger run.

“Know when you need to take a piss and when you don’t,” Tendo replied, and grinned.

“Fuck, let’s _not_ talk about that,” Yancy replied.

“Right, so, not into water sports. I’ll make a note,” Tendo said. “Though it seems you are into _water sports._ ”

It took Yancy a moment. “I - it’s therapeutic, and-” Tendo just raised an eyebrow, and Yancy sighed. “I don’t want to talk about it.” Tendo glanced towards the door and flicked something on the control deck. Yancy sighed - he had, presumably, locked them in. Either until Yancy talked or to compel Yancy to talk without fear of intrusion.

“Why?” Tendo asked. He swiveled his chair so he was facing Yancy. He remembered all of the days in the hospital when Tendo had sat next to him while he had cried and screamed and just stared straight forward because he was too tired to do anything else. The fact that Tendo had been there while he was a miserable asshole and still was his friend-

“Because nothing...it’s nothing,” Yancy said. _Could have been,_ he thought, and that made it more difficult. That night was going to haunt him, now, images of his legs tangled all up in Herc’s while Herc thrust into him.

“What makes you think that?” Sometimes Yancy wondered if Tendo had taken tips from his therapist back in Anchorage.

“I don’t have any fucking legs, Tendo,” Yancy said. “You think he wants to fuck something like this?” He waved his hand down at waist, at the precious little bone and muscle that still protruded from his hips.

Tendo was silent for what felt like an eternity, and Yancy wanted to reach and throw something - and he would have, but he was mindful of the fact he was in LOCCENT and would probably break millions of dollars of equipment. Instead he clenched his fists hard enough it hurt and felt tears come down his cheeks even though this was the last thing he wanted.

“And it’s not just that - there’s…well, OK, it is that, and-” He shook his head, and, unexpectedly, Tendo wrapped him in a hug.

“I know,” he said. “I’m sorry.” Yancy wrapped his arms back around Tendo, not used to this sort of thing - and Tendo was probably his best friend, but- “But, Yance, pull your head out of your ass, yeah?” He said when he pulled away. “Herc knows, right, has seen you in those little swim trunks we got for you...and he still wants you.”

Yancy looked at him, not entirely sure. “He still..?”

“You know, I forget sometimes you’re as dense as your damn brother - yeah, he does, and if you need confirmation, ask Rals. Fuck, Yance. He’s like the PPDC’s most eligible bachelor and he’s been making eyes at you since you got here.”

Yancy considered this - he wasn’t entirely sure what Tendo meant by making eyes at him. Yancy had never really been a position where he had to pay attention to these kinds of things. It had been so easy, before, and he always kept the stakes low. He felt it was unfair to get attached. “Raleigh knows?”

“He drifted with him, you dumbass,” Tendo said, and he whacked him in his upper arm.

“Oh, right,” Yancy replied. “That’s kinda awkward.”

Tendo shrugged his shoulders. “Yeah, probably. Still.”

“Huh,” Yancy said, and looked at the clock. He was due for another lesson in the pool about ten minutes ago. “I need to get going.”

“Yeah you do,” Tendo said, and gave him a thumbs up sign as he wheeled himself out of the LOCCENT.

* * *

“Beckets.”

Raleigh turned first - it was more difficult for Yancy, who had to shift his body around in the wheelchair so he could turn and see the twins. He was wondering when they were going to introduce themselves personally.

“Hello,” Raleigh said in his most pleasant voice, the one their mother had coached him on when he was a kid.

“We haven’t had a chance to get to know you,” said one of the twins.

“Seeing as you’ll probably be staying in Sydney for awhile…” the other twin said. Yancy wondered how they determined who would be good twin, bad twin - rock paper scissors? Was that a thing in New Zealand?

“Oh, well, that’s very kind,” Yancy said, mimicking Raleigh’s previous tone. “We should have lunch together.” He couldn’t help catch the gaze between the two of them and how they both then turned to look at Raleigh. _Yeah, not going to happen,_ he thought.

“Should congratulate you on the successful tests, too, Raleigh,” one twin said, her voice almost a purr. Yancy made a note - they must have caught his expression, and while they might not be book smart...they were obviously quite good at manipulating people. “Striker Eureka is quite the machine.”

“Well, we still haven’t - we’ll see…” Raleigh said.

“I wouldn’t mind having Herc Hansen inside of me,” the other twin said. They both smiled, and Yancy could only think of that scene from The Shining - _come play with us._

“We’re late,” he said. He put his hands on the wheels of his chair and began to move forward. “Sorry, do you mind?”

“Oh, no, sorry,” one said, while the other smirked at him. Raleigh trailed behind Yancy.

“That was weird,” he said when they turned the corner.

“They want to fuck you,” Yancy said. Raleigh quickened his pace to get next to Yancy.

“Really? I thought they were just being creepy,” Raleigh said. “Almost like they don’t want me to…”

Yancy hadn’t considered that - though what would the twins have to gain from Herc getting Mako or Chuck as his co-pilot instead of Raleigh? Increased likelihood of death, given they’d be on deck more until Sydney had three Jaegers again.

* * *

He got better by the day, and after four lessons he felt like he was moving through the water with ease. Not like Herc, but...and overall he felt better. Swimming seemed to work for him more than all of the other exercises they’d been putting him through for physical therapy.

“Looks real good,” Herc said, when Yancy pulled himself up on the gutter of his lane. Herc had been holding onto his own, waiting for him. Herc had been swimming in the lane next to him for the past few days - so maybe Tendo was right, Yancy thought. Or it was just the friendly thing to do.

Before, Yancy would have said something stupid like, _no, you look real good,_ and then gave one of those easy, wide grins that always seemed to guarantee him a spot in someone’s bed. And Herc did look fucking good - broad shoulders, defined arm muscles, deltoids visible because of the low-riding swimsuit he wore.

“Thanks,” he said. “I, uh, really appreciate it and thought...um, do you have the evening off?” He knew Herc did, because he’d looked at his calendar on the computer. Herc nodded. “We could go out, get dinner.”

Herc looked back at him. “As a thank you, or as a..?”

“Um, I think whatever the second option is,” Yancy said. Herc’s smile, in response, was brilliant. He had a great jaw, Yancy thought, very strong. Hard.

“Sure,” Herc said. “Seven give you enough time?”

Yancy nodded - shower, shave, get into some clothes…he paused, for a moment. Did he have clothes? He had shirts he could wear, he was certain, but he wasn’t entirely sure he had any regular pants anymore. “Sure,” he replied. He could just take some of Raleigh’s, hopefully.

* * *

“You look good,” Raleigh said, glancing up from the game he was playing on his tablet. Yancy had done his hair for the first time in a long while, put on proper pants and a shirt. The pants hung awkwardly around his standard prosthetics and he still needed to use a cane, but at least he could go out with them.

“Yeah?” He asked. They’d had to pin Raleigh’s pants a little bit in the back, which hadn’t made him happy. He’d always been slimmer than Raleigh - the kid had a six pack without even trying, in high school, when he’d just lounged around on the couch and ate potato chips - but this time it made him feel weak. _Just push past it,_ he told himself. _Move forward._ Advice from one of the therapists, he was certain.

“You better be a fucking gentlemen, too,” Raleigh said, not meeting Yancy’s eyes. “I’ve already seen enough of you - from you, I don’t need the other perspective, OK?”

Yancy pressed his lips together and regarded Raleigh. “You’re just assuming I’m going to put out on my first..?” He couldn’t even say the word - like it would ensure that everything went wrong.

“I would,” Raleigh replied.

“You don’t even like-”

“I would for Herc Hansen,” Raleigh said, and when he raised his eyes they were wide and completely serious. Yancy grinned at him and shook his head. Then he headed out.

He didn’t pay attention to the looks he was getting - curious, wondering what was he doing dressed like that? Tottering around on his prosthetics? He’d never worn them out in the Shatterdome before, it was too much of a pain in the ass with all the different steps and pieces of mechanical shit that were laying around. The second pair, though, they had the hydraulics and advanced something or other that could deal with it, and Yancy was pretty confident it would only be another week before he could break that pair out.

“Where are you going, hot stuff?” He turned to see one of the twins, dressed in her gear for the kwoon and accompanied by Sujatmi King.

“Out,” he said. Sujatmi gave him a slight smile - she had been in Raleigh and Yancy’s class at the Jaeger Academy, but he hadn’t got to know her very well because she hadn’t spoke much, then, telling everyone it was because her English wasn’t any good.

“Out? Who goes out, these days?” The twin asked. “I heard that you and-” He just walked past her. He wondered if Tendo had ever got his threesome in or if he had realized that it would probably lead to some sort of venereal disease.

Herc met him at the elevator to the car garage. He had on one of those henley’s and a clean pair of pants. “Uh,” he said. “Didn’t know you were gonna dress-”

“You look great,” Yancy said, his voice a little higher pitched than he would have liked - but Herc did. The henley clung to just about every one of his muscles and the pants were perfect around his ass. Herc just made a slight grunting sound and nodded.

“They make us use drivers,” Herc said, but held the door open for Yancy to get into the car - of course, that could have just been polite because of his legs. Yancy fell back and sort of tugged them in with him, then leaned the cane against the back seat. “You like Thai?”

“Never really had it,” Yancy replied. Herc raised an eyebrow. “Grew up in Europe, before...and then we’ve been in Alaska, and…”

“Well, this place is real good, so you should like it,” Herc said. He glanced down at one of his cuticles and Yancy knew a biter when he saw one - Tendo usually got his down to nubs.

 _Just do it,_ a voice in his head said - Raleigh, perhaps, the little remnant of him from when they’d been jerked out of the drift. And Raleigh had basically confirmed what Tendo said, so Yancy reached over and twined his fingers in with Herc’s and then squeezed. Herc met his eyes and squeezed back.

“I, uh...not so great with all this stuff,” Herc said.

“You think I am?” Yancy asked. Herc smiled at him and nodded his head.

The restaurant was fairly close to the Shatterdome. Yancy had a bit of a difficult time getting himself out of the car, but he finally managed to get the knees to unlock and swing over. Herc, at least, did the right thing. “Need any..?” he asked.

“I’ll get it,” Yancy said, and Herc lurked towards the trunk until Yancy stood and balanced on his cane. “Thanks,” he said, and Herc gave him this nervous smile as they walked into the restaurant.

It was small and the people who ran it seemed to know Herc. “This is Yancy,” Herc said. Yancy wasn’t sure what to do, exactly, so he smiled and held out his hand.

“So polite,” said their waitress, On.

“Never had Thai before - I know, I know,” Herc said.

“I will make things just for you, you will love it,” On promised them. “You want wine?”

“The Gewurtz, if you’ve still got it,” Herc said. “Goes best with Thai.”

“Well,” Yancy said.

Herc shrugged his shoulders. “Not a complete bogan,” he said. “Nevermind, you-” Yancy shrugged his shoulders. He and Raleigh had probably had the American equivalent hurled at them plenty of times. “I quite liked Alaska, actually.”

“Yeah, well, Kodiak Island’s got a bit of the maritime thing going on, so you don’t get the full effect...not like Nome, or some shit,” Yancy said. “But, no, yeah, it’s beautiful.” Herc nodded his head.

Things got easier with wine - they always did - and Yancy ate whatever On placed in front of him since it was invariably fantastic. Herc’s food was a good deal spicier and Yancy almost had tears come to his eyes after he ate a bite. On earned herself a massive tip when she immediately brought over some kind of milk drink. “Always milk, for the chillies,” she said.

“Good to know,” Yancy choked out.

“Told you it was spicy,” Herc said. Yancy nodded his head.

They drank down the bottle and Yancy had a nice, pleasant buzz as they made their way back to the car. “So, uh, this is awkward,” Herc said, leaning in to Yancy slightly. “But I should get Chuck out, for the night, if…”

“Oh,” Yancy said. “We haven’t even kissed yet.” Then he leaned in, took Herc’s jaw, and kissed him. Yancy fluttered his lips against him for a moment but was soon overwhelmed by want, and so he kissed him, hard and deep and eager.

“So that’s yes, then?” Herc asked, and this time his grin was sly. Yancy pressed his lips together and nodded his head, and Herc quickly pulled out his phone and typed a message. Yancy could only imagine - no wonder the kid was so pissy. Yancy sure would have been if he had been asked to go have a slumber party with Mako so his dad could...whatever they were going to do.

Herc kissed him as soon as they were back in his room with the door closed and grabbed at the collar of Yancy’s shirt. Yancy groaned into the kiss and Herc tightened his grip and, fuck, how had he known Yancy wanted to be man-handled a little bit?

Then Yancy stumbled - hitting something on the floor that he wasn’t prepared for. Herc grabbed him by the arm and Yancy squeezed his eyes shut, squeezed his whole face. “Hey, no,” Herc said. “Don’t…”

Yancy opened his eyes again and Herc’s look was soft, encouraging, and...he did really want him, Yancy realized. “OK,” he said.

Herc sat on the couch and Yancy joined him and there it was much easier to kiss - he ran his hands down Herc’s arm and moved a bit slower over those muscles. He found Herc’s nipple while his shirt was still on and thumbed it, pinched it, got this lovely startled little sound out of Herc. Their mouths fit together well, their tongues seemed to just understand what to do with each other, and for the first time in a long while Yancy was getting hard because he wanted to and not because he had to test out his dick’s functions to reassure himself it still did work.

And that thought was a slight boner killer - _way to go, Becket,_ he thought, but then Herc kissed down his neck and sucked at his collarbone and then unbuttoned his shirt. “Yes, please,” Yancy said. Herc moved slowly, though, and as he exposed more skin he kissed it. Yancy ran his fingers through Herc’s short hair and spiked it.

“Gorgeous,” Herc murmured, getting all of it unbuttoned, and Yancy felt himself panic for a moment because the next stop on the Naked Train was most certainly not. Herc looked up at him after kissing just below his nipple. “Yancy. You trust me?”

“I do,” Yancy said, and his voice was soft. Herc moved back up and kissed him on the lips, pressing him a little further back into the couch. “Bed?” Yancy managed, when Herc moved away.

“Yeah,” Herc said.

“Just, uh,” Yancy said, when they got to the bed, because speaking of boner killers… “I’m just gonna do this now.”

“I’d like to help,” Herc said, and before Yancy could really do anything he reached down and unzipped his pants, pulled at the button. “There,” he said, and reached inside and rubbed his palm over Yancy’s erection, and fuck - he could just tell he was going to have a poor showing, and he thought, _please, cock, I’ve been real good to you, can we at least try and go two rounds? For the team?_

Then Herc began to pull his pants down and Yancy obliged him by lifting his hips. Yancy guided them down himself, though, and Herc leaned back as Yancy quickly removed the prosthetics and set them on the ground. And it wasn’t like Herc hadn’t seen this before. Just not like this.

He shivered, then, acutely aware of Herc’s gaze on him. He turned and met Herc’s eyes and swallowed, and Herc just smiled at him and then kissed him along his jaw, scraped his teeth down his neck a bit. “Just like I said,” he said.

“Fuck,” Yancy replied, because Herc was good at this.

Herc had removed his own shirt and pants while Yancy had slid himself out of his legs, and, speaking of gorgeous - he was all muscle, hard and precise from years of work and upkeep and the effect was only emphasized by how pale he was. His freckles went all the way down and he was mostly hairless aside from a trail leading down to his cock. Yancy had seen this before, of course, but now-

They kissed again and Yancy grasped at Herc’s neck. He sucked and trailed his mouth down and sucked at his nipple before tonguing it. “Ah, Yancy-”

Should they have maybe negotiated this - like, frottage? Blow jobs? Fucking? Yancy really, really did not care. But maybe it would be nice, to leave some things to - or, not.

Herc moved down and aligned their cocks, still in their briefs, and Yancy groaned at the sensation. “Yeah?”

“I, uh, fuck,” Yancy said, rolling his hips automatically into Herc - except it felt strange, not to have his legs tangled up, instead to only partially feel Herc’s thighs and to sense them with the ends of his-

Herc trailed a hand down his hip and cupped him right where his thigh joined his ass. “You have a really nice ass,” he said. It was serious, so Yancy leaned up and kissed him, then reached and quickly pulled his briefs down. He supposed this was one of few positives - didn’t get underwear tangled up in legs when removing during sex. He wanted to laugh and resisted the urge because it would probably come out of as a choked sob.

Herc put his face into Yancy’s neck and inhaled before he kissed him. His cock was back and aligned with Yancy’s. It felt smooth and good and they worked against each other as their mouths collided again. “Let me-” Herc said, and reached to the side drawer for lube. No condoms, Yancy noted, and Herc seemed to catch his glance. “I want - I don’t want you to be…”

“Uncomfortable?” Yancy asked, and he propped himself up slightly on his arms. “I’m comfortable with you, and, honestly, I’m going back and forth on this one…”

“Ah,” Herc said, drizzling lube into his hand and then he grabbed Yancy’s cock. “I wanted to fuck you in Manila.”

“Oh?” Yancy said, which was good, since it wasn’t a moan. Herc’s hand slid up and down him easily, almost lazy - good, because Yancy was very hard - and his thumb twisted around his tip and the sensitive edge. Yancy moaned.

“Would have, but...didn’t want a one night stand,” Herc said. Yancy nodded. Herc grinned at him, and it was a good look on him. He did something with his thumb and Yancy jerked his hips. “So responsive.”

“Uh-huh,” Yancy said.

“Do you want to come?” Herc asked.

“Very much so,” Yancy said, and it was over from there. Herc built his speed up at a steady pace and another hand rolled his balls then reached for his prostate. Yancy jerked his hips along with Herc. He was wound, coiled right around Herc’s hand and everything was hot and he felt his balls pull and tighten along with his stomach, his cock - and was soon coming over his stomach, moaning and closing his eyes at the sensation.

“Good?” Herc asked, and he instantly had a wipe and was moving it slowly over Yancy.

“Yeah, I-” Yancy said, and his eyes focused on Herc’s cock, hard, bobbing against a patch of red hair a few shades darker than his head. Now was the time for an executive decision. “Please fuck me.”

Herc’s face startled, for a second, and then he smiled. “That’s nice,” he said, and leaned down and kissed Yancy on the mouth. Yancy sighed. “But I’m...don’t have to ask like that.”

“OK,” Yancy said. “It’s just…” He glanced down at himself, he hadn’t really put too much thought it the mechanics of things. _Stupid,_ he thought, _this was all going to end with-_

“Roll over, I think,” Herc said, after considering it for a moment, and then he arranged a pillow under Yancy. “Good?”

“Mm,” Yancy said, though he wasn’t keen on the sensation of his legs - stumps - just dangling over the pillow. He sighed when Herc put another under them, sensing this, and then Herc straddled him. “Better.”

Herc leaned all the way over him, turned his head, and kissed his mouth. Then he kissed down Yancy’s spine and stopped just above the cleave of his ass. He mouth was replaced by a finger and Yancy sighed as it traced down the center of him, all the way to his balls, and back. He shivered. “What are you going to do when I’m inside you?” Herc asked, and circled his finger around Yancy.

“Ah, I-” Yancy said, and Herc nudged inwards. “Ooh.” Fuck, he thought, he’d missed this, and Herc inched in slowly until he was up to his knuckle. Yancy moaned. “That feels so good.” It did, though it was also tight and a little intrusive, but it wasn’t like he was a blushing virgin here, either.

Herc moaned as he was able to slide in and out of him, easily, and he quickly began to probe and search - “Fuck, fuck, fuck!” Yancy said, and then he grinned because there was his cock again. _Thank you, little buddy,_ he thought. His legs spasmed open as well but Yancy was too blissed out from the touch to his prostate to really care about how grotesque he no doubt looked.

A second finger joined, then a third, and Herc took his time even though Yancy was open and willing. “So lovely,” Herc murmured, and he kissed at Yancy’s neck again as he spread his fingers. “So open for me, fuck, Yance…” His fingers slid out and Yancy turned, was able to see a little bit of Herc sliding a condom on his cock and then lubing it. “Yancy?”

“Yes, now, good,” Yancy said, and Herc laughed and draped himself over him. His cock was in Yancy’s crease and Yancy moaned. Yes, he would have preferred to see Herc, but he agreed, this was going to be the easiest way to - Herc pulled himself up and over him and- “Oh, fuck!”

Herc was considerably bigger than his fingers and Yancy felt himself clench. Herc balanced himself on one arm and tangled his other hand in his hair. “Yancy-”

“Just bigger than I-”

“Ah,” Herc said, and Yancy turned and saw him blushing, which - fuck, _there_ was his cock and Yancy hoped Herc had the foresight not to put one of the pillows he liked under him. He slid in a little further and Yancy relaxed, rocked himself into Herc’s movements until he was fully in. Herc put his hand down, then slid out. “Christ, you feel perfect,” he said.

Yancy just moaned as Herc slid into him again and set a smooth, easy pace before he laid himself down over Yancy and wrapped his arms around him. His whole body was over him, then, enveloping him like Yancy was enveloping his cock. Each stroke was building him towards his second orgasm and he matched Herc’s rhythm, eager for the full feeling of his cock.

“Yeah, just like that, that’s so good,” Herc murmured into his ear. “You are gorgeous, fuck.”

“Herc, I - let me…” Yancy murmured, because Herc was close and Yancy could feel it but not quite. He moved himself, slightly, while Herc was still inside of him and then arched his hips a bit. “Fuck, yes, there, there, oh, please!”

Herc pulled himself back up and increased his pace and somehow it was still gentle. Yancy moaned and clutched at the sheets around him, Herc’s cock was filling him and quickly pushing him to the brim.

“I’m close, Yancy, I-”

“Yeah, yeah,” Yancy said, and he got a hand under the pillow just to give him something to pump against. “Yeah, fuck...Herc, you’re so…” He trailed off into nonintelligible sighs as Herc finished in him and Yancy felt him pumping. Yancy groaned and quickly came against his own palm and all over the pillow.

His whole body went loose, then, and Herc was draped on top of him to kiss him. Yancy tried but he wasn’t quite able to line their faces up, so it was more half the side of a mouth kissing the other side. Then Herc slid out, flicked the condom on the ground - hopefully not on his leg, Yancy thought idly, he wouldn’t know how to explain that damage - and laid next to Yancy.

He stroked his hair again, and Yancy was never going to get tired of that. Yancy rolled to his side so he could kiss Herc. He put his hand on the back of his neck. Again, he acutely felt the lack of contact between him and Herc’s own long legs, and he sighed but kept kissing him.

“Stay?” Herc said. “We could watch a movie?”

“Fuck, yeah, you don’t need to ask,” Yancy said, then smiled at him. Herc nodded his head and reached for a remote for the television mounted on the wall.

* * *

Yancy woke and was disorientated - the bed didn’t quite feel right and he was warmer than he was used to. It took him a few moments to put these things together and to realize that he wasn’t in his bed, that there was another person in bed with him, and that person was Herc Hansen.

 _Oh, God,_ he thought, and it had been very good, but - _what were you thinking, Becket?_ Herc made a slight sound as he thought this and rolled over and put a hand on Yancy’s chest.

He felt every muscle in his body tense. _Fuck, you dumbass, you shouldn’t have_...Yancy couldn’t even really figure out what he shouldn’t have done, but he just knew he had made some kind of mistake.

“Morning,” Herc said. Yancy opened his eyes and felt a bit more calm when he saw the sweet, lazy expression on Herc’s face. He didn’t think it was a mistake. He had wanted him. _This was not a pity fuck,_ Yancy told himself. “Hey?”

Moving towards Herc he was conscious of where his legs should be. He swallowed, thinking of how Herc had come back from the bathroom with some wipes and a wash cloth and how tender he was when he had touched him. He should have been able to do those things, though, take care of himself. He shifted, wanting to feel something, but there was just the sensation of the sheets against the ends of his stumps. He was lucky, he kept getting told, that he hardly had any phantom pain. He sort of wanted it, though, the fact he didn’t have it was just more proof how fucked things were.

 _Dick seems to work just fine, though,_ he thought. And he was lucky, for that, because for a time-

“Hey,” Yancy said. “Sorry, just - little disorientated, there,” he said. He gave Herc a smile and knew it came across as uneasy. That his whole body was pretty much thrumming with nerves.

“Yancy, I…” Herc frowned and reached forward, but a thumb to Yancy’s jaw and traced down slowly. “I had...I enjoyed last night. It was really good.”

Yancy nodded and leaned in so he could kiss Herc. He felt better, getting closer contact with him, and Herc’s lips were eager and plump against his. “I just…” Yancy said, because he felt he owed Herc some kind of explanation - he’d clearly picked up on the fact that Yancy had been anxious and cagey. “Since...I haven’t.”

Herc nodded, slightly, and then kissed his forehead. Yancy felt himself exhale - the gesture was tender, intimate, and for a moment he felt like maybe everything was going to be all right. “Let me call for some breakfast, yeah?”

“Sure,” Yancy said. Herc rolled over and Yancy pulled himself up and back into the pillows. He watched the muscles shift in Herc’s back as he scrounged around on the nightstand for the phone. He had a lot of freckles on the back of his neck.

Herc moved so easily, Yancy thought. He was getting there, but it was never going to be the same. He swallowed and listened as Herc put an order through. “Didn’t know the kitchen delivered,” Yancy said.

“They will to families,” Herc said. “And if you make nice to them. Coffee, or tea?”

“Fuck, coffee,” Yancy said. Herc nodded and smiled add him, added in for eggs, toast, sausage. “That sounds great.” Yancy stretched his arms above his shoulders - he was probably sore from not sleeping in his normal position. And he was going to feel it when he got up and walked-

 _Or not,_ he thought, and he had to close his eyes at that.

“Hey,” Herc said, and he hung up the phone. “Yancy?”

“I, uh...ha,” Yancy said. “Just was thinking, uh, that I was going to be uncomfortable, walking, but…” _Hello, Herc Handsome,_ he thought. _Great night of sex, now let me cry in your bed the next morning. Best way to start a relationship._

“Oh,” Herc said. He frowned and then sat up right, looking straight ahead. Then he sighed. Everything he did was deliberate, Yancy realized. “Don’t really know what to say to that,” Herc said. “M’sure everyone’s told you plenty, and…”

“I know it’s hard,” Yancy supplied. “Really? Do you? Or...it will get better. Or, this must be tough, losing everything below your waist...You’re so brave - for what? Sticking around, they mean…” He stopped, and he really shouldn’t have even hinted at that. Of course he had thought about it - but he could never go through it, never do that to Raleigh. He swallowed.

“No one is going to understand,” Herc said. Yancy wanted to kiss him for it.

 _Hell, why not?_ he thought. He’d probably already fucked things up, so...he leaned over and did. He was surprised when Herc met him with gusto, kissed him hard and guided his head slightly to get deeper into Yancy’s mouth. Fuck, the man knew how to kiss.

Then Herc reached and gently moved a hand near Yancy’s cock, which was beginning to stir. “Losing everything below your waist, eh?” There were two things Yancy took from that, and was grateful for - the people who had basically said that didn’t even want to think about his cock, to sexualize him. And the segue.

“Uh,” Yancy said. He turned and looked up. Herc was grinning, but he was also blushing slightly. “Other people said it, not me-”

“Mmm,” Herc said. “Too bad we don’t have time this morning. Would be nice to have you inside me.” It came out easy, casual - and that was the best way to find out what the lay of the land was, or whatever, in that regard. Objectively, Yancy could care less. He’d spent some relationships where he mostly bottomed or mostly topped. He was happy, of course, that Herc seemed more than amenable-

“Well,” Yancy said, almost literally swallowing that sentiment. Herc ignored it and kissed the top of his head. “So, some other time..?”

“Of course,” Herc said. He sort of look offended at the idea - Yancy supposed it was reasonable. Had to be hard being the only adult Jaeger pilot in the Shatterdome who wasn’t ridiculous and promiscuous. Yancy had to laugh, though. What would happen if the press got a hold of this? Herc Hansen, piloting with Raleigh Becket and fucking his amputee brother. Might actually take some of the attention off of the twins for awhile.

“OK,” Yancy said, and he shifted so he was parallel with Herc and could kiss him on the lips. “You look really good like this. Comfortable.”

“I am,” Herc said. “But don’t think it’ll last. Probably get an earful from Chuck soon as I run into him.” He shook his head.

 _Oh, fuck,_ Yancy thought. Chuck had just been an abstract, up to this point - even though he’d been there while Herc had sent him to have a sleepover with Mako and Stacker or whoever over text message. But little Chuck Hansen would be roaming the Shatterdome halls with that wrinkled mop of a puppy in tow, probably completely pissed at having to spend the entire night thinking about his dad having sex with a guy with no legs. Really pissed, actually.

“Yeah,” Herc said. “I’d say avoid him, if you can, but the little shit is tricky. Knows all the hiding spots. Used to drive me up the wall, leaving notes about running away…” He sighed and ran his fingers through his short hair.

“Raleigh did once too,” Yancy said, to add levity to the situation. “He got lost, though, and it took hours to find him. We got lucky, someone found him walking the road by himself and took him to the local shelter, and they found our phone number on his collar, so-” Herc laughed at the joke, a big, full laugh that made Yancy laugh as well. As they quieted they both still smiled at each other like idiots.

“He’s a real good kid,” Herc said, and then, before he could add to this, there was a knock on the door. “You want to eat in bed or at the table?”

Yancy’s eyebrows raised slightly. Herc had perfect corners on his bed, he was surprised he was offering. Herc must have followed his gaze. “Yeah, well. Gotta change the sheets anyway.”

“Oh,” Yancy said, and then he laughed again. “Right. Bed.” Herc nodded at him and then walked into the living area to get the food at the door.

* * *

Yancy decided to see if could take the legs for a trip from Herc’s room to his and Raleigh’s. He would have had a completely successful walk if he hadn’t been intercepted by a pissed off Chuck Hansen and an over exuberant bulldog puppy that jumped on Yancy immediately. He was a bit relieved, even as he stumbled and had to grab onto the wall, not wanting to kick the puppy - he didn’t really want to wait for the ambush.

Before Chuck could open his mouth Yancy used the stumble as an opportuntiy to get down on the ground with the puppy. It was incredibly cute, in contrast to its red faced owner, and his tongue lapped at Yancy’s hand and the little stump of a tail wiggled vigorously at the attention. Yancy scrunched his ears in his hands.

Briefly, it occurred to him that maybe Herc hadn’t disclosed who he had a date with, or maybe Chuck was a typically dense teenager and didn’t want to pay attention to where his dad’s attentions had gone in that regard.

“Morning,” he said, and looked up at Chuck.

No such luck.

“So you fucked my dad,” he said. Yancy turned his head to the side. He debated standing, looming over Chuck like a proper adult, but that meant that he was going to have to get up, and that was going to take some effort. Also, the kid was probably taller than him. Before, he had seemed close to Raleigh’s height.

“Bit presumptuous,” Yancy said.

“I got sexiled by my dad,” Chuck replied. “So he could fuck you and drift with your brother.”

“Not entirely related,” Yancy replied. This only deepened Chuck’s scowl. Yancy immediately connected things - Raleigh had mentioned that Chuck had the Gipsy Danger action figures in their original packaging and a poster they had signed for Herc in Manila. The two of them were certainly closer in age to Chuck than Herc, the only thing keeping them from really being contemporaries was- “C’mon,” he said.

“You can’t make me do anything,” Chuck replied. “You’re not-”

“Pretty sure I still technically outrank you,” Yancy pointed out. “But I’m asking, sort of. So, you want to c’mon?”

Chuck considered this for a moment, narrowed his eyes, and then sighed.

Yancy thought about it, then decided it might help build some trust. He held his hand out to Chuck. “Mind giving me a lift?”

Chuck stared at him for a long moment and turned a different color of red. Then he grabbed Yancy’s hand and tugged while at the same time maneuvering Max back from their exertions.

Yancy started walking, and Chuck followed behind him. Yancy opened the door to his room and poked his head in. “Rals?”

“Bro!” Raleigh called, and before he could say something horribly embarrassing for both of them, given the context, Yancy interrupted.

“Got a visitor. Chuck, say hi to Raleigh.”

“Hi,” Chuck grumbled, and walked into the small living area that pretty much matched the Hansen’s. He glanced around - they hadn’t brought much from Sydney aside from Raleigh’s photo collection.

“Oh, hey, Chuck,” Raleigh said, and walked out wearing just his sweatpants. His hair was wet from his morning shower, presumably after his morning workout. “Oh, hey, adorable!” He leaned down and smushed Max’s face. The dog wiggled his entire body. Yancy rolled his eyes and then caught Chuck doing the same thing. He smiled at him. Chuck scowled. Chuck seemed to have two expressions - a sort of irritated resting face and an outright scowl.

“Would you feel better if you punched one or both of us?” Yancy asked.

“What?” Chuck asked. Raleigh looked up from the dog and grinned.

“You definitely have looked at us both like you wanna,” Raleigh said.

Chuck’s mouth opened slightly. So, maybe, three expressions. He looked at the two of them and his fist clenched, though it didn’t seem to really be related to his actual desire to punch them but rather some general frustration. Hell, Yancy had been there. Well, he hadn’t been sexiled by his dad, but…

Yancy glanced over at Raleigh, who grinned at him. Yancy was glad he was on board. He figured even Chuck Hansen operating at his peak levels of little shit wasn’t going to punch a guy with no legs. And, hey, first benefit! He should really start keeping a list. “Look, I just-”

“Well, you’re not going to get anything with a bad attitude, skulking around-”

“Skulking?” Chuck asked.

“Yeah, it’s like sulking but...with anger,” Raleigh said. “It’s why there’s the ‘k.” Chuck looked at him like he thought he was brain damaged. Yancy instantly felt a protective swell - after all, Raleigh was, in certain respects, but not that respect. He’d always been like that. “What, you want to punch me?” Raleigh asked.

“I’m not gonna-”

“Then stop acting like it,” Yancy said. “Either you want to punch us or you don’t.” Raleigh crossed his arms and grinned at Chuck.

Chuck punched him in the face, hitting him square under his eye and just enough to the right of his nose that it didn’t break, but it did spit a good deal of blood out.

 _Well done, Little Hansen,_ Yancy thought - you had to admire it. Raleigh hadn’t expected it in the least and he staggered back. When he looked up the grin had widened.

“Feel better?” Raleigh asked. Max whined and pawed at Raleigh’s foot.

“Kind of,” Chuck said. He scooped Max up and handed him to Raleigh, who took the puppy and smiled. Chuck still did his best to appear reluctant that any of this had been useful or that either of them had been right. “Doesn’t mean you should be drifting with...or you get to sexile me.” He turned and did his best to glare at Yancy. He was going to have a pretty good glower, at some point, if he continued to be fueled by this much rage and daddy issues.

Behind him, Raleigh gave Yancy two thumbs up. Yancy shook his head slightly.

* * *

“You gonna tell me why Becket Two has a shiner, or are you just going to play Angry Birds?” Tendo asked.

“One, I am running through all of this data you wanted me to aggregate,” Yancy said, glancing up at Tendo and accepting a mug of coffee from him. “Two, you haven’t asked until now.” Tendo considered Yancy for a moment and then shook his head.

“We told Chuck to punch him. Well, us, but he didn’t take me up on the offer,” Yancy said. He sort of wished Chuck had - he might have tripped over his damn puppy when he had been ambushed, but he was still a fucking Ranger. And he’d been punched in the face by fists propelled by a lot more than a fifteen year old’s muscle and adolescent hormonal anger and daddy issues.

“Ook,” Tendo said. Yancy grinned as his facial expression shifted into the one that Raleigh deemed _I Do Not Understand the Becket’s Decision Making_. They both, Yancy knew, had similar looks that Tendo called _I Do Not Understand Tendo Choi’s Life Choices_. And, while theirs was different than Tendo’s, he claimed that Raleigh and Yancy’s were identical to each other. “So he punched Raleigh in the face?”

“Yeah, great hit, actually,” Yancy said. “He let Raleigh think he wasn’t going to, then…”

“I don’t think one punch is gonna solve that kid’s issues,” Tendo said.

“He tripped me in the hall when-” Yancy stopped and narrowed his eyes. Tendo hadn’t needed Yancy to tell him how Raleigh had got a shiner. He was Tendo-fucking-Choi. He _knew._

“When? I didn’t quite catch that…” Tendo said. His grin widened and he clapped Yancy on the shoulder, and Yancy was ricocheted back into the past, however many months ago when he’d still had legs, and where Tendo would congratulate him on some nascent conquest like it was cute or something. If anyone saw it and knew they would roll their eyes, _figures, too, you’re the one with the hook-up reputation and Raleigh is Mr. Bring-Home-To-Mom, huh?_ Yancy would just smile at this, not wanting to reply that the reason for this was probably related to the dearth of gay/bisexual men in and around the Shatterdome. He did quite well when he went elsewhere, thank you very much. “Yance?”

“I - yeah,” he said. “Um.”

“Oh, shit, you actually…” Tendo said. He sat down across from him and folded his hands under his chin and raised his eyebrows. “How was it?”

Yancy shook his head - but part of him felt a sense of foreboding, because, it used to be, Tendo could tell when he had those moments, when he got that sick feeling and remembered that he used to have a lot more to him.

Maybe it was just because of the particular subject matter, though, or Tendo wanting to make him crack and tell him about how amazing Herc’s cock had felt. Yancy felt himself blush slightly and he licked at his lips.

“Yeah, just do that some more,” Tendo said. “That’s gonna keep them coming back.” Yancy shook his head at him.

“Pervert,” he said.


	4. Chapter 4

Herc did his best to keep his expression completely neutral when Stacker told him about Chuck punching Raleigh at lunch in Herc’s office. “Really let Chuck punch him?”

“Yancy’s suggestion, apparently, told Chuck he could punch both of them,” Stacker said. He was doing his best not to smile.

Herc would have smiled but he realized Chuck probably wanted to punch him in the face too - and actually following through with it wasn’t going to help. “Mako immediately felt the need to share?” he asked.

“She thought it was pretty funny,” Stacker said. He looked down for a moment and pressed his lips together. “I think she might have a bit of a crush on…well.” Herc knew why he didn’t finish that off. Raleigh was the age a boy would be that Mako would have a crush on, he remembered the girls in high school used to tape pictures of boy bands or rock bands to the insides of their binders, depending. And there was only two years between the Beckets.

Stacker picked up on this. “You suit each other, Herc. Always struck me as an old soul.”

“Maybe I should get an earring, then,” Herc said.

“Think the tattoos might work just as well,” he said. Herc tossed his empty sandwich wrapper at Stacker. His laugh was full and hearty that time - and, for a moment, Herc remembered when they had trained together at the Academy, tested piece after piece of Jaeger Tech until the Mark-Is and Mark-IIs came off the Assembly Line. Japan finished their Jaeger first after Brawler Yukon proved that the idea wasn’t nearly as crackpot as everyone had thought it might be. Herc just imagined all of the affected nation’s representatives sitting around with some of the most respected scientists of the time, brainstorming ways to combat the kaiju that wouldn’t…and them actually getting to the point where the suggestion that they just build some giant robots to punch the shit out of the kaiju got taken seriously.

 “Herc, I mean it.”

“Your endorsement was what I was waiting for,” Herc replied. Stacker nodded.

“My first take away from that story was that you were just waiting for a first date,” Stacker replied, slowly.

 _Goddamnit,_ Herc thought. _Crafty bastard._ Stacker always was - why they had promoted him to Marshal after grounding him. “Well…” he said.

“Herc,” said Stacker. Herc knew what he was going to say and shook his head - that Herc could loosen up, a bit, that it was all right to enjoy himself, that it had been long enough- “Though you’ll have to sort something out with Chuck.”

“Yeah, that was...well, didn’t think that one through as well as I could have,” Herc replied. He had probably just traumatized the kid for life - he supposed that he had figured Chuck didn’t have any clue who he was out with that evening, or figured that he was out for business rather pleasure. Herc had sent Chuck over to Stacker and Mako’s several times for the latter reason - Australian government officials to woo, world government officials and rich donors who thought their money and support should at least earn them dinner with one of the program’s heroes.

“Plenty of extra singles laying around,” Stacker said.

“You want to give me a…” Herc didn’t even know how to qualify the offer - a sex den?

“Or we could get Becket a full bed,” Stacker said.

“Probably for the best,” Herc said, thinking back to what Raleigh had said to him earlier. Somehow he figured Yancy would take offense to it being turned into something salacious - and Herc could just imagine everyone trying to find his secret sex room.

“All right, then,” Stacker said. He nodded at Herc and there was a subtle shift in his posture - from Stacker to Marshall Pentecost. Herc straightened accordingly. “U.S. needs to replace Gipsy,” he said. “They’re investigating whether it will be more efficacious to repair and upgrade her or produce a Mark-V.”

“I know what my recommendation would be,” Herc replied.

“I agree,” Stacker said. “I could quote figures and projections at them all day long, but unless we’ve got actual evidence-”

Herc inhaled and met Stacker’s eye. “Right,” he said. “Raleigh and I are going to need to get into the simulators, then.”

“I’ve booked you this afternoon,” Stacker said. “We should be able to get you into Striker by the end of the week for a test run.”

“You want me to-”

“I’ll speak with Raleigh before your session this afternoon,” said Stacker. “Just thought I would give you a head’s up.”

* * *

“Herc Hansen.”

Herc closed his eyes and wished that he had some kind of God to pray to. Not that it would help. “Ladies, how can I assist you-”

“Did you know, aside from Marshal Harris, and Marshal Pentecost, you are the highest ranking asshole in this place?” asked Hanna. The twins had just come from the Kwoon and were...shiny, to say the least. Herc sighed.

“How can people respect you, when-”

“We’re all Rangers, ladies,” Herc said. He leaned back against the wall they were trying to crowd him into and wondered why they were so threatened by recent developments. They couldn’t just be angry about him sending Scott away, or trying to get him to get Scott to contact them.

The twins were the type of pilots the program shouldn’t have been so eager to take, in the early days - but no one could blame the screening committee. No one dared to think they would have time to weed out pilots for reasons other than drift compatibility and their skills in a Jaeger. Hanna and Nicole Paulsen were excellent fighters in top condition and had a strong neural handshake. Who would have stopped to consider whether they’d be around long enough to become complete menaces?

Not that the public knew that - to them they were fun, hot, the girls you thought were going to be at the college you decided to go to, the ones you met at the beach house for the summer. They knew how to put on enough of the good girl act and had enough of a PR machine behind them that you had to be able to dig fairly deep on the Internet to find out that the more _interesting_ rumors were likely true.

“Well, isn’t that a nice sentiment,” Nicky replied. She crossed her arms and turned her head slightly. “Guess it’s time you got up to the same improprieties at the rest of us.”

Or maybe they were just...well, like everyone else. Maybe they had money on it. Herc was sure there was a pool going somewhere. There was on everything - according to Eric, Striker’s Chief of Operations, the most money was on who Chuck would lose his virginity to. 

“You think we’re gonna sit down and have a chat about my personal life?” Herc asked.

Hanna pouted slightly, and Herc was suddenly tired of all of the bullshit - of the whole Shatterdome knowing what he had done last night within a few hours. He was trying to save the world, here, not-

“Just never thought you’d go for that sort of thing,” Nicky replied.

“I’ve got work to do,” he said.

“Traumatizing his baby brother in the drift,” Hanna replied.

“What is your issue with all of this, anyway?” Herc asked. Both Hanna and Nicky looked at him, confused. Just shit-stirring, then? Were they just being mean girls? Herc walked around them and didn’t look back. 

* * *

“First simulator run for Raleigh Becket and Hercules Hansen,” Tendo said over the microphone. “Pilots, Striker Eureka.” Herc caught both Mako and Chuck scowl in the observation room. Herc would have asked that they not be there, but it was an unspoken agreement amongst Rangers that you got to watch each others’ training sessions. These were the people who were going to have your back out there one day, after all.

Herc narrowed his focus down and breathed in - he’d never really been one for simulators and felt like Raleigh probably shared the thought. It was all well and good, seeing how compatible their moves were, but when it was for real, when there was a 2500 ton monster in front of you - well, it changed things.

The drift washed over them easily, this time, blurred images of Raleigh and Yancy draped over each other, swinging back from the bar drunk - apparently Raleigh had picked up on another commonality between the two of them - Herc giving Chuck his first beer when he was fifteen and graduated from the Academy, Alaska, the beach outside of Sydney…

“Neural connection is strong and holding,” Tendo said. “We’ve got a 95% connection. I’m going to load the simulation now.”

Herc focused straight ahead as a cityscape appeared in front of them. It took Herc a moment to identify Shanghai from the iconic buildings. He and Raleigh turned seamlessly, facing out towards the ocean and the incoming kaiju.

Data poured across the screen. “Category 3,” Tendo announced, even though both of them had registered that already. “Codename: Scylla.”

 _Looks like they made a new one for us_ Herc thought, and he felt Raleigh grin.

It took a moment or two for them to get used to the differences that Striker afforded both of them - enough for the kaiju to get an upper-hand as they grappled. Then images poured in of the staged wrestling the Yanks liked so much. Herc understood. He wrapped the right arm around the kaiju and they twisted and slammed it down into the water.

They took twenty minutes to bring the kaiju down, holding the Miracle Mile as they punched it to submission and then used the targeted missiles to take it out and into the ocean. 

“Nicely done, Rangers,” Pentecost’s voice said. Herc was almost overwhelmed by a wave of images - Raleigh and Yancy, their first successful simulation victory, the two of them grinning and proud of themselves, just local boys who had showed up on a bet with some guys in the bar and hadn’t expected to get past the first round. Yancy’s grin was brilliant as he ruffled Raleigh’s hair - _told you we could do it, little bro, you were awesome._ Herc felt himself swell with affection for both of them, different and also the same.

“We’re going to take you out of the neural handshake, now,” Tendo said.

Herc let himself drift off - Raleigh’s impressions faded quickly, he must have felt Herc’s response. Instead there were children playing in the snow and Chuck’s face when he got Max, a cold breeze and snowballs, Chuck, younger, playing with the dog next door…

“Well done,” Herc said. “Smart move, the body slam.”

Raleigh met his eyes - he knew what Herc had felt, and he was accepting it. _Fuck,_ Herc thought, _maybe I just need to drift with Chuck, show him…_ Herc shook his head. “Thanks, Herc,” he said. “Mostly you, but…”

“None of that,” Herc replied. Raleigh was strong. He held a tight, firm neural connection and it obviously wasn’t just a function of drifting with his brother. And he was a fighter, scrappy, he matched well with Herc’s style, which was a little more tempered from his military experience - but not much. “You can hold your own in a fight.”

Raleigh glanced down. “Used to always say that about me and Yance, you know,” he said. “Never got straight As, never star athletes - but we held our own.” Herc nodded, sensing that Raleigh was using fight broadly - the death of their mum, their dad abandoning them, their sister breaking contact when they decided to be Rangers because she couldn’t handle losing them too.

“You sure do,” Herc replied. “Let’s get some water, oi? Got another one in an hour.”

Raleigh nodded and they disconnected from the simulator.

Yancy, Chuck, and Stacker were waiting for them in the adjoining room. Herc had to smile, seeing Yancy up on his legs - he hoped he’d transitioned over to the hydraulics, but there was no way to tell. Chuck had his eyes narrowed, but Herc caught a look between him and Raleigh. Stacker was all formal presentation, of course, but Herc saw a slight smile curl up his lip. “That was impressive,” he said. “Tendo is going to have to figure out how to up the difficulty - perhaps you can help with that, Ranger Becket?”

It took Yancy a moment to realize that it was him. It was the Ranger, Herc figured. He nodded. “Yes, sir,” he said. The awkward sway to his hips as he headed for the control room told Herc that he was still in the standard prosthetics - but at least he was still up and around in them, using them. Herc couldn’t quite reconcile how Yancy hated people staring at him in the wheelchair and his self-imposed stalled progress with his legs.

“May we speak?” Herc was surprised to see Mako approach him. Even though she and Chuck were friends - or friendly rivals, or whatever they were - she didn’t often engage with him.

“Absolutely,” Herc said. “Just need to get a bit of water, OK?” Mako followed him, posture ramrod straight, as he went into an adjacent room to get two bottles of water. He closed the door behind him. “What’s on your mind?” The girl was intimidating, even if he had inches and pounds on her. He wondered how much of that was Stacker, how much of that was her parents, how much of that was innate.

“They are thinking of building another Jaeger,” Mako said. Herc nodded, not sure why she had got the information from. “But only if you succeed.”

“They’re trying to figure out if they want to build a new Mark-V or restore Gipsy,” Herc replied.

Mako considered this. “I would pilot both.”

“I know,” Herc replied, “but you’ll…Gipsy’s a gorgeous machine, but you would be safer in a Mark-V. And it would suit your…” Mako met his eyes and considered him.

Then the door opened and Raleigh came in. “Oh, sorry, am I interrupting?”

Herc saw Mako’s shoulders turn in just slightly.

“Just catching up,” Herc said. “You need some water, sprog?” Raleigh nodded and Herc handed him a bottle.

“You did very well, Mr. Becket,” Mako said, then left.

Raleigh shook his head at Herc and then looked at the door to make sure that it was closed. “She sort of ambushed me, you know, in the hall?” Herc shook his head - he didn’t, it hadn’t been in the drift. “Told me I wasn’t...I wasn’t right for you. I took too many risks. Put my crew in danger. My style was unrefined and…”

“Mako’s studied all of us,” Herc said. “She’s determined to be the best. She and Chuck, they…” He wasn’t sure how to phrase the intense competition between the two at the Academy. They’d nearly torn each other’s throats out in the kwoon - and somehow still seemed to tolerate each other even after Mako edged Chuck for the first position in the class by half a point.

It occurred to Herc - not for the first time, but perhaps for the first time with some distinct clarity - that they were bonded now over their desire to pilot, over the need to usurp Raleigh to get a Jaeger. Except now there was something new on the horizon.

“She might be right, and I told her,” Raleigh said. “I mean, look what-”

“Raleigh, you can’t-”

“It was both our faults, I know. Before we went out that night - I sort of had to wake Yancy up, pummel his head a little bit, I was ready to go and he was...and he said, before he went in the bathroom, _don’t get cocky, kid_ and we were and-” Raleigh was staring into the distance, and Herc could recognize that look anywhere - getting pulled deep into a memory and cycling through it.

He reached over and hugged the kid. It felt strange and Raleigh felt it, too, sort of tightened in Herc’s embrace. After all, he had just fucked his brother. Then Raleigh’s body loosened and he put his arms around Herc as well.

“They’re gonna put us in there for real, Raleigh,” Herc said. “I want us to be-”

“Oh, that’s not,” Raleigh pressed his lips together and for a moment looked very much like Yancy. Then it was gone, his face softening - kid still had a little puppy fat in his cheeks. “I’d like that too.”

“Good,” Herc said. “Let’s see what your brother’s concocted for us, yeah?”

 Herc knew what they were going to get but they still had a hard time dealing with it. Yancy and Tendo had programmed the kaiju to counter all of Raleigh and Herc’s weaknesses. This wasn’t a beast that you could just pummel - Chernobog, an old academy nemesis, but completely revamped in its behavior. The kaiju was sly and tricky and knew how to dodge the brawling moves that Raleigh and Herc relied on.

They grappled for half an hour, maybe forty-five minutes, yielding space on the mile with each move but still keeping the kaiju from causing too much damage.

 _Gotta beat it at its own game,_ Herc thought. They were barely holding the miracle mile and Herc didn’t want to deal with the bastard amongst the city scape.

 _Blades,_ Raleigh thought. The blades had sort of been an afterthought for both of them, a benefit that was added onto Striker’s tactile grip.

Herc led them, switching their movements so that they were slicing at the kaiju rather than just trying to batter the beast. Each slice was met with a slight plasma discharge, ensuring the wound was cauterized and didn’t leak kaiju blue everywhere.

Herc was also the one who saw their main opportunity and he lured the kaiju towards the docking equipment in the harbor. Chernobog didn’t seem to understand what had happened when they wrapped the construction cable around its slender upper torso but soon began to whirl in circles as it struggled. _Line’s only gonna hold so long,_ Herc thought, and Raleigh reached for a shipping container and picked it up.

 _Baseball,_ he thought, then added, _cricket?_

Herc understood and they both took the shipping boat and swung it right for the kaiju just as it nearly broke from the cable. They engaged the missiles as it went down.

Herc watched as Chernobog sunk into the harbor. Then he and Raleigh raised the container again and struck it in the head. It was over, then, and as Tendo called it Herc got a flood of scattered images from Raleigh - Knifehead, the rain, a small fishing vessel, the two brothers convinced that they had won, Tendo’s voice, the thing rising, Yancy-

“Yancy,” Raleigh said. Herc disengaged before he should and walked over to him. For a brief moment he thought they shouldn’t have run the simulation, with how Raleigh had been before - but you had no choice when a kaiju struck. “Yancy, I-”

“He’s alive,” Herc said. He faced Raleigh and met his eyes through the viewing shield of the simulator pons. “He’s alive, you didn’t-”

“I broke him,” Raleigh said, voice soft.

“Everything all right in there, gentlemen?” Stacker asked.

“A moment, sir?” Herc replied. It was all they were going to get. “You did not break your brother. You are both equally responsible for what happens - takes two people to pilot, two people to drift. And Yancy is…” Herc didn’t know what to say. Yancy certainly wasn’t OK, if this morning was any indication. “Yancy is strong.”

Raleigh nodded. “One more test, tomorrow, right?”

“Right,” Herc said, and gave him a soft smile.

“Rangers?”

“Yes, sir?” Raleigh asked.

“Good turn around there. Quite, ah, creative,” Pentecost said. “I’d like to review footage with you from this afternoon?”

“Yes, sir,” Herc replied. “If I could use the facilities first?”

“Let’s meet in fifteen,” Pentecost said.

* * *

Herc found Yancy waiting for him - possibly both of them - outside of Pentecost’s office when they were done. Raleigh lingered back and Herc smiled at Yancy. “You two did really well,” Yancy said. He wasn’t using his cane, Herc noted.

“All him,” Raleigh said. “I just, uh, went along for the ride.” Yancy arched an eyebrow and smiled slightly at Raleigh, then looked at Herc.

“Thought I might, ah, have dinner with Chuck tonight?”

Yancy nodded. “Probably a good idea.” Raleigh shuffled behind them. “You wanted to catch that movie on the big screen, yeah?”

“They’re showing Jurassic Park in the mess hall,” Raleigh said to Herc. He nodded his head.

“Tomorrow?” he said, hoping to end one of the most awkward moments of the past few days. Yancy nodded his head and then leaned in and lightly kissed his lips.

“Uh,” said Raleigh. “Great.” 

“Aw, it could be so much worse,” Yancy said and he wrapped his arm around Raleigh and grinned up at him. Herc watched his legs - despite the awkward movement he was still stable.

Also, seeing them together, Herc definitely felt like he might be too old to be with Yancy Becket - he was, what, twenty-three? A baby, basically, and- “Uh, you need to shower, you stink, c’mon,” Yancy said. “I’ll see you later, Herc.”

“Yeah,” Herc said. “Great.” He sighed and glanced down.

“There’s a reason they have the term May-December, you know,” Stacker said, once the Beckets were out of earshot.

“Seventeen bloody years-”

“Don’t,” Stacker said. “Really, don’t interrogate it.” It was the sort of advice that Herc never expected to hear from Stacker. He was usually so practical.

“Hope you didn’t give that advice to the Paulsens,” Herc replied.

“I am very glad I am not their immediate supervisor,” he said.

“You’ll be back in the Icebox soon enough, then, oi?” Herc asked. He hadn’t really considered this.

“Allman can manage just Brutus,” Stacker replied. “Unless another Jaeger gets moved up there...I’ll be down here for the time being.” Managing the Beckets, then, was his express command. Herc found that interesting.

“I’m gonna eat dinner with Chuck,” he said. “Think we might need to, ah…”

“Talk?” Stacker asked. Herc sighed. “Try saying the word first.”

“Mako knows about Gipsy and the Mark-V,” Herc replied - he wasn’t the only person not an A+ parent around here. It was a low blow, but, really, Stacker should be aware.

He scowled. “Her research skills far surpass her...security clearance,” he said. “I’ll have to get IT on that.” He clapped Herc on the back. “One more drop tomorrow in the simulator and then we’ll see about getting you out in Striker for real.” Herc nodded - and realized he was excited about the proposition. Even if Raleigh was still a little unstable they clearly worked well together. They drifted well together. They could be a good team. A great team, even.

* * *

“Father son talk time, oi?” Chuck asked when Herc ordered dinner for them. He had Max in his arms and seemed to have spent the entire day scowling. Herc wondered how it was that he seemed to know what to do for each of the Beckets but couldn’t figure out his own son.

“Look,” he said. “Yeah, it is.” He paused and sat down at the table, then kicked Chuck’s chair out for him. Chuck sat down with Max still in his arms.

“Not going out with-”

“I shouldn’t have done that,” Herc said. “That should have gone better, but I wasn’t…” _Fucking fuck,_ he thought, _gonna completely bollocks this up too._

“Yeah, and you just…” Chuck looked at him, slightly appalled. “You just...with him.”

Was his kid calling him a slut for putting out on the first date?

“When people, uh, like other people-”

“He doesn’t have legs!”

Herc widened his eyes and considered how best to respond to this. “No, he doesn’t,” he said. This kept to facts, at least. “But that doesn’t-”

“It’s...it’s weird!” Chuck said. “It’s fucked up!”

“S’good thing it doesn’t matter what you think about the people I…” Herc began, then swallowed. _Are we dating?_ He supposed so. They’d made plans for tomorrow. “Date.” He met Chuck’s eyes and held them - sort of like dealing with some kind of angry wild animal. “Besides, he’s better than Paula, oi?” Chuck and Paula had seen one another as opponents for Herc’s affection, and once he caught onto it he had been quick to break things off with the nurse.

“Maybe,” Chuck said. “Let me punch Raleigh in the face.”

“Gave him a decent shiner,” Herc said.

“Coulda broke his nose,” Chuck said. “But figured…”

“Probably a good idea,” Herc replied. Raleigh would have slugged him right back if he had. “I’m not trying to replace you.”

“Supposed to be me,” Chuck said. “You and me, in Striker.”

“I know you thought that, Chuck-”

“Why’d you send me off to the Academy, then, at thirteen? If you didn’t want-”

“I didn’t send you,” Herc replied. “You begged me.” He still remembered the way Chuck had looked at him, like there was nothing more that Herc could do for him or offer him.

“You let me go,” Chuck said.

Herc resisted the urge to yell at him and was thankfully given aid by the knock on the door. He went and picked up the noodles he’d ordered for dinner and set them down on the table. “Chuck, listen - you and Mako, you’re in line for the next Jaeger-”

“Sure, next time,” Chuck said. “They’re not even building one, and you know…wait, what do you know?”

“Council’s debating whether to repair Gipsy Danger or build another Mark-V,” Herc said. “Depends on funds, depends the Wall, if they think the Jaegers can...well.”

“Great,” so Chuck said. “You get a shiny new Jaeger and one Becket as a pilot and one to fuck. And I’m back on the waiting list.”

“We are not-” Herc couldn’t stop himself from raising his voice there, even though he knew Chuck was trying to get a rise out of him.

“Pretty sure that’s what happened last night,” Chuck said.

“It’s not just that,” Herc replied. Chuck shook his head. “What?”

“You could have anyone, dad, I see the way...hear how people talk, and...that’s who you pick?” Chuck asked.

Herc had no idea how to respond to that. “Is this about his-”

“Yeah, and he’s…” Chuck stopped and looked down. _Yeah,_ Herc thought, _there it is. Closer to me in age than to you._ Herc’s knee jerk response was to say something similar to what Stacker had said to him - the world was ending, and he could die on his next engagement. But it wasn’t something he could say to Chuck.

“It’s...it’s complicated,” Herc said.

Angela hung between them - questions that Chuck had about her, questions that Herc had about her. He knew they had distinct and different experiences of the woman, and each had loved her fiercely in their own way.

“Look, if you want to be with some…” Chuck shook his head. “That’s on you. I want a Jaeger.” He poked at his noodles with his chopsticks. “I’ve been practicing with Mako.”

“Good,” Herc said. “That’s good.”

“We’re next in line - doesn’t mean we’re drift compatible,” Chuck said. “No one even tried us at the Academy.” _Of course they hadn’t,_ Herc thought, _two of you would have destroyed each other, then._ Drift was about cooperation.

“You will be,” Herc replied. They would both be too stubborn not to be, if they knew it was their shot at getting into a Jaeger. “I believe in you.”

Chuck looked at Herc like this was a strange, foreign concept. It made Herc sigh. “Dad, really, you don’t…” Chuck met his eyes and Herc realized it was something else. “I know, OK? Cause you let me go off, like that, and...I just don’t...everything keeps changing, you know?”

“I do,” Herc said.

“Yeah, well…” Chuck’s noodle slipped off of his chopsticks and Herc listened as the puppy gobbled it down.

“Shouldn’t let that dog eat off of the table,” Herc said. “Bad habits.”

* * *

Herc had texted Yancy that he wasn’t sure what to do with Chuck, the next day, and was surprised by the response. _I’m not sure what to do with Raleigh seems we might have a solution for each other._ Herc considered it - why not?

 _All right,_ he replied.

They went to Yancy’s, this time, and Herc was initially struck by the handrails in the bathroom and Yancy’s room. He watched as Yancy’s gaze followed his own and Yancy put his lips together and then licked them. “Yeah,” he said.

“Where is that?” Herc asked, changing his focus to the pictures that had been pinned to the one wall in the main living area.

“Amsterdam,” Yancy said. “We went before we officially got instated as Gipsy’s pilot...they gave us a week off, so...we were young and stupid, so, seemed like the best place to go.” He shrugged his shoulders. Herc nodded and recognized one of the pictures from the Drift, the two Beckets drinking with each other at what he presumed was a bar outside of Anchorage. He could almost smell the stale air in the place. “It’s gonna be weird,” Yancy said, almost sensing where his thoughts went. “It’s OK, I know.”

Herc nodded. “You had dinner?” he asked. Yancy nodded and walked over to him. He put a hand on Herc’s shoulder and then turned him towards the couch.

“Figured you’d want to relax - queued up a movie,” he said, and then tugged at the button on his jeans.

“That’s-” Herc began, before he realized Yancy was removing his jeans to get at the prosthetics. _That’s a contradictory message,_ he just about said. “That’s good, be comfortable.”

“Well,” Yancy said, but then nodded his head. He slid the prosthetics off easily and then settled into the small couch. Herc fell in next to him and resisted the urge to just palm Yancy’s cock, kissing him instead.

They settled in for the movie and Herc wrapped an arm around Yancy. Maybe Stacker was right - maybe it was best not to think about it. They all knew, after all, how you could have someone and lose them. Yancy sunk right into him, just like he fit, and Herc rubbed his shoulder, stroked the back of his neck, and worked his fingers through his hair. They became more entangled as the movie went on and then, as the credits rolled, Herc finally kissed Yancy, hard. He cupped his jaw and stroked it and Yancy groaned into it. 

Herc took control and, after some time kissing Yancy, moved off the couch and in front of him, on his knees. “Herc?” Yancy asked, and this was why Herc was doing this, because this was almost more intimate than fucking.

“You don’t want me to?” Herc asked and did his best to keep his tone playful. He had got a good look at Yancy, two nights ago, but seeing the scarring this close put things in stark relief. He massaged along the outsides of his thighs.

“Um, yeah. Very much, yeah,” Yancy said. Herc smiled at him and then lifted Yancy’s shirt up to kiss along where the band of his briefs met his flesh. He kissed over the top of Yancy’s half-hard cock, then, and quickly pulled the briefs off before Yancy could do anything.

His hands grazed the ends of his thighs and Yancy shivered. Herc clasped his cock in one hand before Yancy had an opportunity to process what had happened.

Herc moved his hand down and then took most of Yancy in his mouth. Yancy leaned back and moaned, and Herc grinned around his cock. He pulled himself up a little higher to get more range of motion and slid his tongue around Yancy’s thick, smooth shaft as he moved up to the tip. Yancy made a deep, pleased sound. _Mission accomplished,_ Herc thought.

He lavished his attention there, sought out all of the sensitive spots that made Yancy keen, and then swallowed him again. “Fuck, oh, fuck, Herc!” Yancy said, finally, articulating words before moaning again. Herc sucked when he had him all in his mouth. Yancy bucked into him and Herc steadied him with a hand on his hip.

Herc slowed, drew things out, slid his tongue all over Yancy before he cupped and massaged his balls. Yancy began to fuck his mouth a bit faster than Herc was moving. Herc grinned and sighed when Yancy carded his hands through his hair. “Yes, Herc, yes, fuck, I’mgonna!”

Herc took him down easily and then pulled back to watch Yancy. His smile spread across his face and his eyes were closed. He was beautiful, relaxed, spread out in front of Herc and his to take. “Fuck,” Yancy managed, and looked down.

For a moment he appeared stricken, then he swallowed. Herc moved up, kissed up his abdomen and into more comfortable territory. He let Yancy turn and snuggle into his neck and then realized his major tactical error - to get to the bed, Yancy was either going to have to put his legs back on, get Herc to get his wheelchair for him, or have Herc carry him.

Yancy seemed to realize this at the same time. “I, uh…” He met Herc’s eyes and shook his head. “Don’t know why I’m being so stupid about this, I just, I mean, you’ve already…” Herc pushed some of his hair out of his forehead and smiled at him.

“Let me take care of you,” he said, and smirked, unable to help but think, _already did._

“Yeah,” Yancy agreed. He smiled back.

Herc knew he shouldn’t have been surprised at how light Yancy was – he managed to keep it off his face, at least. He kissed him, hard, and then quickly covered the space between the couch and Yancy’s bed.

“I mean, I-” Yancy looked up at him as Herc slid out of his own pants and tugged his shirt off. He shook his head.

“You’re gorgeous, yeah?” Herc said, and he got into the low bed with Yancy. “I want you.” He waved his hand over his own cock, still incredibly hard.

“Ah, well…” Yancy said, and he recovered - it would be a slow process, Herc realized, it might not ever…but it didn’t matter. There were plenty of wounds that never fully healed. “Let me take care of that for you, yeah?”  
“I’d appreciate it,” Herc said, and, as Yancy used his arms to flip himself on top of Herc, he grinned.


	5. Chapter 5

“You got this,” Yancy said, because he wasn’t sure what else to say. Raleigh was standing outside of the Conn Pod deck, about to get back into a drivesuit for the first time.

“You’re on the legs, aren’t you?” Raleigh asked, instead.

“Oh, yeah,” Yancy said. He had switched over yesterday and was incredibly pleased with the result. He wasn’t entirely sure how long he was going to manage on them - he had the control, but he wasn’t sure about the strength. It helped that he didn’t have to worry as much about stability. His new plastic surgeon had suggested one or two hours, just to get started and move forward.

Yancy smiled slightly at Raleigh and Raleigh smiled at him. He wanted to go in there with him - and he didn’t. He didn’t think it would be possible to watch Raleigh get suited up while he stood and watched, knowing that he would never-

Herc would take good care of him. He had so far. “Just a patrol,” Yancy said.

“I know,” Raleigh replied. Then he reached over and enveloped Yancy in a thick, hard hug. Like he might never see him again - like the sea life of Australia might pose a threat to their Jaeger. Yancy almost laughed, imagining them scooping up a giant great white and flinging it at a kaiju. There was probably some B-movie out there about that. Some post on the Internet.

Yancy sighed. _You wanted this,_ he reminded himself. _You wanted him to do this._

“You look good,” Raleigh said to Yancy, and then turned and walked into the deck.

Yancy walked back towards LOCCENT. The legs were fucking brilliant - smooth, and it was almost like he remembered walking feeling like. Though he couldn’t be sure. Maybe he was just making it up. He didn’t muse about that in his e-mail to Elka, though, just told her that she should be damned proud of her work.

 _Miss you dumb boys,_ she wrote back. _If you ever get sick of the sunshine you’re going to need to come and visit._ Yancy had read the line over - it was already a foregone conclusion, it seemed. Raleigh and Herc Hansen were piloting Striker Eureka, barring some sort of epic breakdown this afternoon.

“Oi, Becket.” He turned and smiled at Chuck. The scowl on his face had loosened ever so slightly. Maybe his play-date with Raleigh had helped? “Those the J-tech legs?”

“Yeah,” Yancy said. “Seem to, uh, be pretty good…”

“Mmm,” Chuck said. “Ms. Foerstner did our J-Tech lecture series at the Academy.” He tugged at the puppy’s leash. Max made a disgruntled sound, indicating he was not in the mood to walk any faster.

 _Maybe,_ Yancy thought, _I should have just got Raleigh a puppy and let him be a mechanic._ He looked over at Chuck in his loose fitting cargos and the oversized sheepskin jacket. “She’s excellent,” Yancy said. He couldn’t help but feel that there was a reason for this.

“I don’t think you should be...with my dad,” Chuck said, finally, and he averted Yancy’s gaze for this. “Your brother is all right, though.” Yancy figured this was a minor victory - after all, no teenager liked who the person their dad was dating, right? And it wasn’t for Yancy to delve into the Hansen family dynamics.

“I’ll let Raleigh know,” Yancy said - he couldn’t help himself. “He’ll be glad to get your approval.” Chuck’s scowl was deep and practiced. _Well, maybe you wouldn’t get sassed so much if you weren’t such a dick,_ Yancy thought, and sure, kid had been through a lot. So had he and Raleigh, and they’d turned out to be generally lovable and always knew to err on the adorable side of snark.

He entered his password and then pressed his finger prints on the pad to open the door to LOCCENT. Chuck snuck in past him as soon as the doors slid open.

“Looking good, Becket,” Tendo said. Yancy gave him a slight smile and then turned his attention to Pentecost, who was giving him an appraising look.

“J-Tech?” he asked, and Yancy nodded. Pentecost’s and Herc’s friendship was widely known. Yancy knew that he had probably passed Pentecost’s minimal qualifications for dating Herc Hansen just on the basis of the fact that Pentecost deigned to speak to him - and he was a little surprised. He thought the Marshal might be more fussy about one of the PPDC’s darling dating someone so much younger.

He watched from the back of LOCCENT as the Jumphawk team took Striker out of the Bay, away from the city and towards the spot near Sydney Harbor National Park where they generally did maneuvers.  
“Neural handshake is strong and holding, Rangers. Jumphawks will be dropping in 5,” Tendo announced. Yancy resisted the urge to look at everyone else.

He remembered the first time they had dropped in Gipsy down in Los Angeles so that they had a chance to operate in easier conditions. Raleigh had almost been vibrating he was so excited. Every one of his thoughts were of success, saving the world, being like the Gage brothers with their shoes and television appearances, kicking kaiju ass and being big damn heroes. Yancy went along with him but couldn’t help but reflect on the past, think of how they had got here. Two assholes in a bar challenging them, a stupid comment, and the two of them had turned up at the Jaeger Academy like thousands of other people - never expecting that they would have this moment.

They had their first kill on that L.A. deployment when Gipsy was taken out to assist the Gage brothers when it was clear that Yamarashi was going to be too much for them. Raleigh had been nervous then. Hell, so had Yancy. All both of them could think was that these were the brothers they had idolized from the Academy. They’d read their magazine interviews, followed their television appearances, watched their fight clips. They both couldn’t help remember how meeting them had been a bit of a letdown - for Raleigh because he felt they had been a bit derisive of him, for Yancy because of how the whole identical thing was a lot more disconcerting in person. Gipsy took the kaiju’s head off with a crane wire, though, and suddenly everyone wanted to know about the two of them.

Yancy closed his eyes when he remembered their last drift. There was a moment of sheer panic for both of them when they realized that the kaiju wasn’t dead and was rising out of the water, then determination as they synchronized together and got ready to fight the thing, then realization as it breached the Conn Pod. Horror, shock, a wave of this horrible heartsick feeling that really had no word, deep, deep loss. Yancy reached for Raleigh and he couldn’t find him any more, trying to tell him something, but he couldn’t and it was too late.

He didn’t remember much, then - pain, loss, horror, the crush of the kaiju around him and the overwhelming feeling that he was missing a significant piece of himself. And then he was cold and he was convinced that he was dead.

He was dead, Tendo had said, for at least a few minutes. The water had been cold enough that it probably saved him. No one could figure how he managed to dodge all the kaiju blue.

Yancy didn’t know about anything until he sensed people touching him and hands around him. He thought, _Mom?_ and there was a rough voice that answered, “He’s alive!”

“Hold the head steady - get the first aid kid!” someone else shouted. Rain was pelting down on him and it was like he could feel each drop on the pieces of skin that were exposed.  
“Ranger, Ranger, we got you-” said the first voice. Yancy looked at the face, the beard, the toque on his head. _The fishing boat,_ he thought, and resisted the urge to laugh. “Shock.”

“Yeah,” Yancy said. His breath rattled.

“Stay with us.”

Yancy tried, he really did - he wanted to, he didn’t want to die, and he couldn’t leave Raleigh. He needed Raleigh and Raleigh needed him and it had been that way before they had even drifted.

There had only really been two periods in his life when he hadn’t liked Raleigh - once, when they were kids, and he thought Raleigh was too little and he wasn’t any fun. Then again when he was thirteen and Raleigh was eleven, seriously cramping his style and his efforts to make out with girls underneath the bleachers - little did he know that there were other factors at work that contributed to that all not going very well.

“Get the blankets around him - drape ‘em, don’t - watch those legs.”

Yancy blacked out. He was fairly sure he woke up for a little bit in the emergency room at the Shatterdome where they stabilized him, warmed him, poured blood into him through an I.V.. “Raleigh.”

“They’re looking for him, Ranger Becket, he and Gipsy are missing-”

“Lose a Jaeger?” Yancy asked. His mouth felt like sandpaper and it was hard to breathe. “Gonna die?”

“We’re doing everything we can,” a doctor said. Yancy appreciated that and then he felt the familiar warmth of morphine as it flooded his system and he knew that it was OK to fall away.

And then it was all black, nothing, until he woke up to Tendo and Pentecost.

Tendo had stayed with him after Pentecost left and it was only then that Yancy allowed himself to cry. “Hey, hey,” Tendo said. He scooted his chair a bit closer and took Yancy’s uninjured arm. “Doctors said it was a miracle-”

“Fuck off,” Yancy said.

“OK, right, let’s pretend I didn’t say that - you’re right, worst thing when something happens is when someone tells you, could be worse…” Tendo nodded his head.

“Raleigh?” Yancy asked.

“He’s in a coma - medically induced, until the swelling in his brain goes down. Couldn’t believe kid piloted her for more than two hours, himself,” Tendo said.

“He’s a strong kid,” Yancy said. He closed his eyes and swallowed. Tendo nodded his head at him.

Yancy snapped out of it when the communication line crackled. “Striker, ready for the drop?” came over the comm line from one of the Jumphawk pilots.

“Striker Eureka ready for water deployment,” Herc replied. Yancy leaned back and watched, almost bumping into Mako Mori. She glanced over at Yancy with a hard set to her jaw.

Striker stood poised in he the water for a moment before the hands moved into a motion like two clenched fists. It fit the two of them. Then the arms dropped and the sting blades deployed.

“Neural connection is strong at 96%, sir,” Tendo called. Yancy leaned over to get a look at the computers, watching the rate of feedback from the neural drift and Striker into the LOCCENT technology.

“Rangers, let’s take the Jaeger for a walk,” said Pentecost. There was a slight hitch in his voice, something approximating the sound of a teenager about to see something really cool.

Justifiably, it turned out. Yancy had never given much thought to how differently Striker had been engineered - but the girl was fluid and precise in her movements, and he could just tell that there was barely a lag between pilot movements and her own. He shook his head, slightly.

“Significant advances were made between the Mark-IV and V,” Mako said, startling him. She had never spoken to him before. “It is thanks to many of the innovations that went into Crimson Typhoon.”

“Oh,” Yancy replied, and he couldn’t help but glance down at his legs. Mako glanced down as well.

“Rangers, looks good. We should go through some standard exercises,” Pentecost said.  
Yancy watched, his appreciation growing with each maneuver that Raleigh and Herc put Striker through. Mako was smiling slightly, as well, but Chuck still appeared irritated and constipated. Didn’t matter to him that he was next in line and that Raleigh and Herc’s success probably guaranteed that they would get a Mark-V of their own. He wanted the Jaeger. He wanted it now.

Yancy had to wonder if anyone else had made the Veruca Salt comparison before - except she had been spoiled, he supposed, and it wasn’t quite fair to Chuck in that respect.

“Excellent work out there, gentlemen, we are going to pull the Jumphawks back in to return you to base,” Pentecost said.  
“Thank you, sir,” Herc replied. Chuck turned and left the room.

“You really want to drift with him?” Yancy asked Mako because, well, why not?

“We share many things in common,” she replied, gave Yancy a tight smile, and then walked out as well.

“That thing is tight,” Tendo said, turning on his chair to face Yancy. “That is nice piece of…” There most have been something on Yancy’s face - he thought he had done his best to hide those feelings.

His baby brother, out there again. Where he should be - because he shouldn’t give up, and he had a gift. And Yancy wouldn’t want him in the hands of anyone other than Herc Hansen, honestly. But what had he been thinking? Why had he thought that he would really be OK with this when it was reality rather than an abstract idea?

“I need to get out of these,” Yancy said, instead, and flashed a smile at Tendo.

He wasn’t surprised to hear him banging on the door to his room half an hour later, finally released from his LOCCENT duties. Yancy sat on his new queen sized bed - it had appeared, one morning, without comment, and Herc had got a little red-faced about it when he sat on it the first time - with the J-tech legs off and without any pants, just thinking.

“You better let me in, Becket Boy,” Tendo said. Yancy sighed and then hefted himself into the wheelchair and rolled over to the door.  
“Yeah?” he said, well aware that he was the one who was sort of being an asshole here - well, throwing a bit of a tantrum himself. Though were they called tantrums if they were deserved? “OK.”

Tendo motioned his head over to the couch and then plopped down on it. Yancy sighed, wheeled over, hefted himself up and next to Tendo. He was suddenly aware that he was just in his boxer briefs and he tugged his shirt down a bit. Tendo laughed. “I have seen it all, Becket Boy,” he said.

“I…yeah,” Yancy said. He’d spent the first three weeks of his hospitalization in nothing but scrubs.

“I have been coached on how to have this conversation,” Tendo said. “But I think all of it was bullshit - but, it might come through, so, if you notice…”

“Coached by who?” Yancy asked.

“Pentecost, and the nice lady that I see in psych,” Tendo replied.

“Great,” said Yancy.

“Look, I don’t understand and I can’t pretend to,” Tendo said. “But - who you are isn’t defined by what you do. I got caught up in some...things, spent some time in prison,” Tendo said. Yancy did his best to look like he was not aware of this piece of information. “Ended up driving a ferry when I got out instead of being the Silicon Valley programmer I was supposed to be, everyone’s disappointed and I can feel it radiate off them, you know…” He trailed off because Yancy knew where this story was going - his grandfather, dead because Tendo couldn’t get to him in time, Tendo getting into the PPDC when he demonstrated to someone how useful he could be for them.

“Am I supposed to take something away from that?”  
“Don’t be a fucking dickhead, Becket,” said Tendo. “Point is - we’re at war with giant abominations coming out of the Pacific Ocean, you’re with someone and it’s going pretty well, and maybe the other stuff is going to sort itself out. Or not. Doesn’t matter - because something will happen.”

Yancy gave Tendo a half smile. Tendo had never bullshitted him - not even when it would have been easy to do so with Yancy doped to his gills on painkillers and crying about how he didn’t want to live anymore. “OK,” he said.  
“I’ve got to go and meet them,” Tendo said. “You gonna stay here?”

Yancy nodded - he had an idea what Raleigh’s face would look like when he got out of that Conn Pod. Raleigh was so transparent, and it would just be full of the exhilaration that he had just experienced from making the Jaeger move like that.

Yancy sighed and ran a hand through his hair, then figured he might as well change and head down for physical therapy.

* * *

Herc didn’t say anything about it. Herc was...Yancy didn’t know quite how he had wound up with Herc Hansen. A part of him wondered if the universe had required a sacrifice of flesh for it - if there were other possibilities, other timelines where he didn’t get anything even close to this. He pushed it all aside.

Herc kissed at his neck, lips soft and delicate from the time he had spent kissing Yancy’s mouth. “We have unfinished business,” Herc murmured.

Yancy took a hand and tilted Herc’s head to meet his eyes. Herc was smiling. “I want you inside me, Yancy,” he said, and reached and ground his palm into Yancy’s cock. “Thought about it since Manila.”

“Jesus,” Yancy said - he’d had articles about Herc Hansen taped to the inside of his locker at the Academy. “Yeah.” Herc ground his hand again and Yancy bucked his hips into it.

Herc’s hands drifted up and tugged at his briefs. Yancy grimaced for a moment, then remembered that Herc had carried him to bed, once. He relaxed as his cock was loosened, then groaned as Herc palmed it again. “You’re a big boy, aren’t you?” Herc asked, and it could have sounded all kinds of stupid except Herc put just the right amount of gravel in his voice. He wrapped his hand around Yancy’s cock.

“I-”

Then he leaned in, licked at Yancy’s neck and sucked on his earlobe. “How do you want..?” And it wasn’t like Yancy hadn’t put thought into this. The easiest would be for him to get on his back, to let Herc ride him, but he figured that he had enough strength that he could-

So he guided Herc down onto his back and pulled himself up, balanced himself on what he had. He expected Herc to look at him with some kind of revulsion, but there was nothing but...Herc scanning him, slowly, taking his body in. “Fuck, Yancy,” Herc said, and he reached a hand and stroked down Yancy’s hip and cupped his ass. “You look good.”

Yancy knew what he meant - he’d caught himself in the mirror the other day and had been surprised. The dark circles were still there, the slight crows feet, but he’d put on weight and it was pretty much all muscle. He was always going to be fucking pale and slightly freckled, but it looked like he wouldn’t burst into flames when he got in contact with the sun.

“So do you, like that,” Yancy said, because Herc had his knees spread and his cock was hard and leaking. He shuffled over, conscious of the action, the way that he must look - but Herc’s focus seemed to be elsewhere.

Yancy slid between Herc and sat, stroked the insides of his thighs and then kissed them near his knees. When he slid a slicked finger in he found Herc unbelievably tight. He met Herc’s eyes and he just smiled at him, meeting his eyes and giving him a little nod.

Yancy took his time, tried to call up everything he knew - used his other hand to stroke Herc’s cock and balls, hooked two fingers and rubbed at that spot, spread and circled and fucked Herc with his fingers. “Yancy, I’m - now,” Herc said, after a good ten minutes. “Fuck, I’m…”

Yancy grinned and pulled himself back up. He slicked himself and considered the angle - not ideal, and it took a few agonizing moments to arrange each other so that Yancy could get inside him. Herc wrapped his legs around Yancy and he leaned forward, brushing his cock against Herc’s hole. “Yance…”

He was purposefully slow on the first press because he could feel Herc tense around him - and saw it in his eyes, as well. He smiled again when he caught Yancy’s gaze and he slid the rest of the way into him.

Yancy swallowed hard and realized there was a part of him, deep in some recess where things lurked but weren’t really defined, that had thought he might never have the opportunity to fuck someone again. That in any future encounters he would have to bottom, be receptive, be an object.

“You feel really good, Yancy-”

“You are so fucking tight, Herc, I – so good,” Yancy offered. Herc gave him a bit of a lopsided grin and Yancy pulled out, slid in, and groaned at how Herc enveloped him. Everything was warm and overwhelming, and Yancy leaned forward to get some better leverage. It seemed he wouldn’t quite be able to get completely overtop Herc, to kiss him, but this was working.

“Yancy, more. I can - more,” Herc said.

He felt that beautiful tightness begin and tried to get deeper into Herc, to find that spot. “Herc, tell me-”  
Herc arched his hips and shifted a bit, and then he issued a deep moan. Yancy smiled and rocked harder into Herc, even as he began to feel a tightness in his hips and thigh muscles.

  
“So beautiful, Yancy,” Herc said. Yancy moved his hands to Herc’s chest and Herc moaned, twined the fingers of one hand in with Yancy’s. “I’m so close.” His other hand was on his own cock.

“I know,” Yancy said, because he was as well, his whole body was thrumming and he wanted relief - so he began to piston into Herc, wobbling a little but Herc held him tight with his legs. “Herc, I - yes, there, oh…”

Herc’s jaw jutted out slightly and his mouth opened as he came. Yancy watched his lashes flutter and then he bottomed into Herc and came himself. They stayed together for some time before Yancy pulled out - and he definitely lost his balance and fell sideways. He was saved from an embarrassing flop on the bed by Herc, who guided him down next to him. Then he turned to his side. “That was - that was really amazing,” Herc said.

Yancy smiled - he bottomed more than he topped, and with the added complication...it was good that he could see that Herc wasn’t bullshitting him. “It did, you’re…” He sighed, not sure how to finish it. He could have said something really stupid - _you’re my anchor,_ but he decided against it.

“Mmm,” Herc said. He leaned over and kissed Yancy, easy as he pressed into him, like they fit. “You’re...well.”

“Thanks,” Yancy said, and he smiled slightly, nervous that Herc might want to talk now that they had already...though he didn’t seem to be the type of person who did that.

* * *

“So, are we just not going to talk about it?” Raleigh asked when Yancy returned from lunch two days after his first patrol. Raleigh had been waiting, probably missing mandatory training sessions. He was poised on the couch and he was ready. He was also sort of bouncing, which might indicate that he hadn’t even gone to the bathroom in order to make sure that he caught Yancy. You had to admire that commitment.

“Talk about-”

“Well, we have to talk about things, now…” Raleigh said, and he flinched when he realized the actual implications of what he said. “I just-”  
“I know,” Yancy said. “But what do you want-”

“You were the one behind this,” Raleigh said. “Now you’re fucking moping about it. And ignoring me.”

“I’m not-” Yancy stopped, because he might be moping a little bit. And he had definitely been ignoring Raleigh. “It’s just...I don’t know, Rals, I want you to...but you, being out there, without me? And then what I am going to do?” The last few words were choked and fuck, he didn’t want to break down in front of his little brother. He was supposed to be the one who held them together.

“Well,” said Raleigh. “I guess...now we know, um, we’re going to be here, so. You can find something?”

“Like what?” Yancy said. “What am I qualified for, Raleigh? I could pilot a fucking Jaeger, and work construction. Anything else?” As Yancy talked, Raleigh pulled himself up from the couch so that he was looking Yancy in the eye. His stare was hard and determined.

“You remember your fucking Academy scores?” Raleigh asked. “Basically said you could do...anything, and-” Yancy sighed and glanced down. It hadn’t been that simple - more that the people administering the tests had been amazed that some kid with a few arrests for bar fights who worked construction and fishing boots could actually turn out to be intelligent and capable.

“OK,” Yancy said.

“So you can either be the...ex-Jaeger pilot,” Raleigh said, and Yancy could tell he had to try very hard to hold in something like _cripple_ or _amputee_ or _Herc Hansen’s fucktoy_ , “or you...I mean, you have been doing stuff, but it’s sort of like, you know, complaining about something and there’s something you can do about it.”

“It would be exactly that,” Yancy said. “You didn’t actually use a metaphor.”

Raleigh pouted at this and then wrapped his arms around Yancy. It was completely unexpected and Yancy sort of sunk into it. “I guess I didn’t,” Raleigh said, after he released Yancy. “We got put on active.”

“I figured,” Yancy said, and he felt his stomach churn because Raleigh had changed the topic - which meant that he had said what he thought he needed to say, and he was probably right.

“So. We’ll see,” Raleigh said and Yancy saw something in his eyes - fear, remorse, guilt, but mostly just fear. Yancy put a hand on his shoulder.

“I’m still here,” Yancy said. Raleigh nodded his head.

“I, um...sort of made an appointment for you with Pentecost,” he mumbled. So he hadn’t actually said everything and was just looking for a diversion before he dropped the bombshell.

“Oh, that’s...OK,” Yancy said, because he was going to have to be a big boy and deal with Pentecost at some point if Raleigh was staying in Sydney. It wasn’t like the PPDC could kick him out - he could use the benefits that they were paying out to pay them rent on the room they had supplied him with. And his new queen sized mattress. _Christ,_ he thought, because Pentecost was probably responsible for that.

“In fifteen minutes,” Raleigh added. “So it was, uh, good you showed up when you did.”

Yancy nodded and sighed. He didn’t have a lot of traction - after all, he’d pretty much done the same thing to Raleigh. _Let’s just go and enjoy the sunshine, Raleigh._ And the next thing they knew, Raleigh was in a Jaeger.

* * *

“Sit down, Ranger,” Pentecost said. He was standing when Yancy entered, and Yancy knew what he was doing here. He really must have been moping if Pentecost felt the need to so blatantly assert his control and dominance.

“Thank you, sir,” Yancy said. The chair, though, wasn’t the easiest thing for him to get down into and he winced, slightly, when he misjudged the bend he needed to put into his knee and sort of fell into it. Pentecost watched this carefully before he strode over and sat behind his desk.

“Those are the J-Tech legs?” Stacker asked. Yancy nodded. “It’s good to see that they are working for you. Elka hoped they would provide more mobility.” Yancy nodded again - surely Pentecost knew that he’d kept in touch with Elka, beyond just the obligatory update and thank you e-mail. “Your brother said you wanted to talk?” Stacker gave him that knowing grin of his. Yancy always wondered where Stacker had acquired omniscience.

“Yes, sir,” Yancy said. “I am correct in assuming Raleigh will be permanently stationed here in Sydney with Striker?”

“Yes,” Stacker replied. “And Vulcan Sceptre will be moved back to Tokyo next week.”

“I wanted to talk about, um, finding a permanent position for myself,” Yancy said. Pentecost met his eyes and Yancy wasn’t sure what he was thinking - well, you could never be sure with Pentecost, but Yancy sensed he wasn’t just assessing him as Raleigh’s former co-pilot. He felt like he was being tested.

“I will need to review your testing records from the Academy,” Pentecost said, “and then consult with Marshal Harris about openings here that might be appropriate. It may take a few days, but I think we can find a position to accord with your skills.”

Yancy swallowed and then nodded. “Thank you, sir.”

He moved to stand up but Pentecost’s gaze held him him place. Then his posture shifted, relaxed, and Yancy knew that he was going to try and...talk with him. The idea of Pentecost sitting him down for a chat about his personal life was far more terrifying than facing a kaiju. “Are you doing alright, Ranger?”

“I’m - yes,” Yancy replied. “I think the change in, uh, scenery has been beneficial.” _Fuck,_ he thought, _you are a complete idiot._

Pentecost nodded at this before folding his fingers together. “I know how difficult it can be, watching...well, in my case, just Coyote, but...watching everything move on without you.” Yancy nodded and wasn’t sure how to respond to that. Stacker had been determined and professional, almost ice cold, throughout his recovery.

“It hasn’t exactly been easy,” Yancy replied. “Even though I was the one-”

“Of course,” said Pentecost. “We would both be in a Jaeger if given the opportunity.” He sighed. “Herc will take good care of him.”

“I have no doubt,” Yancy replied, and he couldn’t meet Pentecost’s eyes, because he had a feeling that there was another observation coming.

“Good,” Pentecost said, and gave him the nod that it was all right for him to get up and out of the office. Yancy stood, balancing himself on the arm of the chair, and nodded his head back.

* * *

“We’re on duty,” Raleigh said, poking at his mashed potatoes. “Kaiju hasn’t come through in almost a month and a half, Yance.”

“OK,” said Yancy. “For how long?”

“One week,” said Herc, sitting down next to Yancy. “Echo’s on primary, though, so we’d just be back-up if she needs to drop.” Raleigh looked at Herc and sighed. It was a definite contrast to when Gipsy had first been put on call, down in Los Angeles, and Raleigh had basically bounced off the walls at the thought of being able to take their girl out and punch some kaiju in the throat.

“Right,” said Yancy. As if called by the mention of their Jaeger the twins began to argue loud enough for their table to hear.

“You’re disgusting,” said one. “I can’t believe you would-”

“Oh, just because I decided to do something without you for a change-”

“Go fuck yourself - like that worked out for you, you dumb slag-”

Herc looked around and then sighed when he realized that he was the ranking person in the room. “Excuse me,” he said, stood up, and then turned and faced the twins.

“Oi, you two! Go shout at each other somewhere else - some people are trying to have their dinner.”

Both of them slowly turned towards him, heads almost moving Exorcist style. It gave credence to some of the rumors that Yancy had heard about the shady things they were up to before they became Jaeger pilots.

“Go on, now, scoot,” Herc said, derision dripping from his voice, and it was the patronizing that finally got to both of them. One followed closely behind the other, almost stomping out. “Didn’t even get their plates.”

“Doesn’t really make for a whole dramatic exit,” Raleigh said. “The conveyor’s all the way over there.” He nodded his head and Yancy resisted the urge to just grin at him. Then Raleigh’s face darkened. “We have to be back-up for them?”

“That sort of thing’s not unusual,” Herc said. “Though they’ve been a bit...don’t know what crawled up their ass, honestly, but they manage to pull it together in the Jaeger.”

* * *

Two days later the alarm went off in the middle of the afternoon. Yancy was in physical therapy when it happened, working to increase the mobility of his hips. “Goddamnit,” he said, and pulled himself out of the weight machine he was working on - and then realized, too late, that his wheelchair wasn’t nearby. He sat back down and looked for Kyle.

“Yancy, you should finish-”

“I’m going to LOCCENT,” he said. Kyle nodded and brought Yancy’s chair over so he could get to his legs and put them on.

As he walked to LOCCENT he took a moment to be amazed by how much better he was getting with the legs - he was striding, walking past others, and the movement was fluid and natural.

“Raleigh and Herc are already suited up,” Tendo said, not even turning when the door opened. Yancy nodded - of course. They would have got their own alarm before the whole Shatterdome was notified.

“Sit, Ranger Becket,” said Pentecost, and he motioned towards a chair a few spaces away from Tendo.

“Thank you, sir,” Yancy said, hoping to communicate that it wasn’t just for the offer for the seat.

He watched as the room teamed with activity. He slid back into his seat and felt a little bit overwhelmed - he knew all of the chatter, knew what was happening as Tendo and his counterparts talked all three Jaegers through their drift initiation sequences. He only snapped out his stupor when he heard Herc’s voice, calm and authoritative. “Striker Eureka is ready for the Jumphawks.”

“Echo Sabre is also engaged and ready.”

“Vulcan Sceptre engaged and ready,” finished Jasper. Vulcan was already well north, halfway to Tokyo, and apparently was engaged to provide support in that corridor in case the kaiju took a wide turn.

Yancy closed his eyes and envisioned the exit maneuvers as the Jumphawks latched onto the Jaegers and pulled them out to sea - because of the wide area that Sydney had to cover, the Jaeger bay had been designed for Jumphawk deployment rather than simply walking out, as they in Anchorage. There was no chatter coming over the line - if it had been him and Raleigh, they would have been joking a bit, maybe ribbing Tendo.  
Yancy could imagine Raleigh’s feelings, the swirling doubt and also the sense that he had to do this - maybe not for himself. Maybe, Yancy thought, he’d failed Raleigh. Maybe he should have let him work as a tech. Maybe he shouldn’t have pushed.

But they would probably be in the same position - the PPDC wasn’t going to let a great Jaeger pilot work on the sidelines. Raleigh would have been dragged kicking and screaming down here and, worse come to worse, Chuck would have been in a Jaeger with Herc and they would have put Raleigh and Mako together next. Back in Gipsy - Yancy shook his head.

“Striker, I’d like you to hold the Miracle Mile outside Brisbane while Echo moves in to intercept,” Harris said. “Vulcan Sceptre is positioned to hold Port Moresby and the Solomon Islands and we have Shaolin Rogue coming down to be positioned further north.” Yancy gripped the arms of his chair, watching. _Raleigh isn’t ready to go this soon,_ he thought. And by the palpable feeling of tension in the room he knew that he wasn’t the only person that was thinking this.

“Kaiju is smaller than Knifehead and Ceramander but looks really quick,” Tendo replied. “Codename is Raythe, Category 3, but I would watch out for those claws especially.”

“On it, thank you,” came one of the Paulsens. Yancy pressed his lips together.

He’d seen footage of the twins fight - they’d all watched each other, to learn new techniques and to provide critiques - but it had always been after the fact. Watching them live, when it counted, when it really mattered… Echo took their signature wide stance and then waded out into the Ocean, heading straight into the kaiju’s path. They were bold and they hit head on.

“Do you have visual?” Echo asked.

“Still underwater, Echo,” Tendo replied. “You’re headed straight for it, though.”

The kaiju broke the water at that moment, maybe a mile off from the Jaeger. It was ugly - they all were – but more like Karloff than any other kaiju Yancy had seen. Skinny, bone covered, and the claws were pretty significant. It barrelled straight towards Echo. Then it almost flew into the air.

Echo made a move to the side. Yancy couldn’t figure out why, they would have been better off bracing for the full impact and using the plasma charges to subdue the kaiju. It cost them as they tried to punch the kaiju in the head but instead were knocked further off-kilter when the kaiju avoided them.

“Fucker is fast,” said Echo. Yancy shook his head and met eyes with Tendo.

They tangled with each other for an hour, Echo ceding more and more space to the kaiju as it made for Brisbane.

“They’ve been a little...tetchy lately,” Tendo said, finally, and he glanced over at Traeger for confirmation. He nodded his head slightly. “You want to call in Striker?”

“Have them hold,” Pentecost said.

Yancy could imagine what was going through Raleigh and Herc’s head. He had hated the multiple Jaeger drops where you just had to wait, standing there in your own machine, hoping you didn’t have to get involved but aching for a fight anyway. Especially when the other Jaeger wasn’t doing what you knew you could.

A year ago Pentecost probably would have called Striker in, but they had money to worry about now and a moving Jaeger cost a hell of a lot more than a stationary Jaeger.

 _Some bottom line better not kill my brother,_ Yancy thought, and then felt vomit rise in his throat.

Then the kaiju revealed that whoever had decided to call it Raythe had been more accurate than they thought, and a double set of claws emerged where there had only been one when it lunged for Echo. Hanna threw up the left arm to block while Nicki led with the right to punch, but the kaiju managed a quick last minute duck and then grabbed right for the Conn Pod.

Yancy closed his eyes.

“We took damage to the reactor shielding, I think,” Hanna’s voice said, and Yancy was able to open his eyes.

“That’s confirmed, Echo, and it looks like the kaiju dove,” said Tendo. He pulled up a wider map. It looked like it was headed north and away from the city, but that didn’t make any sense. “Headed north.”

“Right, following,” Echo said.

“No,” Yancy said - he didn’t realize, until everyone turned to look at him, that he had said it out loud. “It’s - like Geiszler said, they’re adapting, it’s just played with them for awhile and figured them out. It’s leading them where it wants them.”

“Echo, consider the possibility the kaiju might be leading you-”

“We have this under control,” said Echo.

  
“No,” Yancy said, again, but this time no one was concerned with hearing him speak up. It was taking them further from Striker.

What happened next went too quickly, even though it probably took ten to twenty minutes to play out. The kaiju took them out to deeper water and then almost flew out of it, towards them. When they moved to throttle it the kaiju was able to sank its claws into the center of Echo. It held them there while it’s other arm moved forward, severely limiting the Jaegers range of motion.

“Aw, fuck, that’s-” Herc began.

“Engage, Striker,” said Pentecost. The kaiju whipped Echo around like it was doll, surprisingly strong given its almost frail, bony appearance.

“Five minutes until intercept, Echo, Striker is coming-”

“We don’t bloody need-” said the twins, in unison, trying to tug themselves away from the kaiju. It was sort of like watching a chick fight, or whatever they called them. They were tangled in each other, Echo trying to grab at the arm impaled in the Jaeger and the kaiju trying to grab at the Conn Pod.

Echo was taking significant damage and Yancy could hear it in the breathing of the twins as it came over the comms. “Come on, come on,” he said, and he wasn’t the only one who was speaking aloud.

Striker slashed at the kaiju with the sting blades and pulled it off of Echo. The other jaeger moved to get in on the fight but it was clear that there was too much damage in order for them to continue. The jaeger staggered backwards. Yancy could see that there was a good deal of the front of the metal casing that had been pulled away.

“Goddamnit,” he said.

“Echo, we need you to fall back to the Jumphawk-”

“No way they can take this down alone,” said one of the twins, and Echo lunged forward again just as Striker was able to toss the kaiju around and seemingly distract them. But the kaiju moved for Echo again, recognizing weak prey when it saw them.

Yancy closed his eyes, then, and he could only listen. Striker had to defend itself and lead the kaiju away from Echo, which was more than one jaeger could do. They still managed, though, taking the kaiju deeper out into the ocean and away from the city. Yancy opened them when he heard Raleigh’s voice. “Kaiju’s got those claws-”

“It’s going to try and dive again, cut it off,” Yancy said.

“You catch that, Striker?” Tendo asked.

They didn’t affirm, just leaned down and reached to prevent the kaiju from going under. Yancy pushed his chair forward and watched the screen with interest. Striker held the kaiju at arms length and punched it with another. Raythe struggled, trying to get at its face, and eventually wormed away.

The fight took another half hour, but it never made the ground that it had on the twins.

“It’s got them figured out,” Yancy said, as the kaiju moved back away from Striker and ducked underwater again. “It’s regrouping…”

“Less brawn, more brain,” Raleigh said, and Herc actually laughed. They managed to out maneuver the kaiju, then, and took the sting blades out and began to dance around the kaiju and slice at it. Twenty minutes later, Yancy smiled when Striker released the chest rockets into the kaiju and it slumped into the ocean.

  
“That kill is confirmed, Striker, we are not picking up any life signs from Raythe,” Tendo said. Yancy grinned as Striker kicked at the kaiju corpse, then glanced down at his lap. Even though Raleigh was hundreds of miles away Yancy almost felt like he was ghosting with him - but it was more likely he was just remembering what their first victory had felt like. Remembering Yamarashi.

“Excellent job, Rangers, harbor is defended with zero reported casaulties,” Pentecost said. “Maintain position for Jumphawks to pick you up.”

* * *

  
“They wouldn’t tell us how the twins were,” Raleigh said when Yancy walked into his hospital room. Yancy smiled at him - of course that would be his first concern.

“They’re at Brisbane General, pretty busted up, but they’ll recover,” Yancy said.

“Arrogant little bastards,” said Herc. Yancy paused, not sure who he should head towards first until Raleigh gave him the slight nod of his head. “Out of the way for a minute, doc, oi?” Herc kicked at his hospital bed so that he was at the same level as Yancy and then leaned in and kissed him. “Told you,” he said, voice soft.

“Christ, dad,” said Chuck, and everyone in the room turned to see him and Max in the doorway. He shook his head.

“Tell me about it,” said Raleigh, but Chuck scowled at him - apparently they were only going to get to bond over that once.

“You good, old man?” Chuck asked, and Yancy looked at him for a moment as Herc nodded.

“Couple cracked ribs, nothing new,” Herc said. “Chuck nodded.

“Rals?” Yancy asked, turning towards him.

“My arm is a little numb,” Raleigh said, and he shrugged. “That wasn’t so bad.” He grinned, and Herc shook his head at him,

“Wasn’t so bad?” Chuck asked, and the scowl lines on his face deepened.

“Isn’t anything like the simulators,” Herc replied.

“Well, we can talk about that better when I know,” Chuck said, then turned and walked out of the room. Max looked at all of them with sadness - it seemed he wanted to stay and hang out with all of the people, but he had to do what Chuck wanted. He trotted after him, a little forlorn.

“Poor puppy,” Yancy said. Herc just shook his head.

“Ranger Becket?” a technician asked, and both Yancy and Raleigh turned their heads. _There it is,_ Yancy thought, when he realized what was happening. _You’re really not Ranger Becket anymore._ “I’m here to take you for your MRI.”

“Great,” said Raleigh, “just what I need, listening to that damn thing thumping for an hour after-”

“We have headphones,” the technician said. Raleigh nodded and settled into the bed so the technician could wheel him out.

“You were a big help, you know,” Herc said, once Raleigh was out of the room.

“Really?” Yancy said.

“Called that kaiju’s behavior, moves,” Herc said. “Stacker told me you wanted a permanent position...should be in LOCCENT.”

“Really?” Yancy asked. “I don’t think-” He wasn’t sure how to articulate it. Some part of him felt like it was a natural step, another that it was a step down. Not that he didn’t respect what LOCCENT did - especially after watching them run a multiple Jaeger mission - but he had been on the other side of things. Of course, that would be what made him effective.

“Think on it,” Herc said.

* * *

They all sat down to a very late dinner later that evening. Yancy was pleased to see that victory brought out some of the more heavily rationed items and took two helpings of ice cream before he even ate his dinner.

“Really?” Raleigh asked.

“Fuck off, when was the last time you had ice cream?” Yancy asked, and then was surprised when Mako and Chuck took a seat with them. It made a bit more sense when Pentecost and Tendo followed. “Besides, its gonna go fast.”

“Oh,” Raleigh said. “Shit.”

“I’ll get you some, Becket Boy,” said Tendo, and he pet Raleigh’s head when he stood up. It was hard to resist, sometimes, especially with Raleigh looked exhausted but happy.

After Tendo returned with his ice cream, Pentecost arched an eyebrow at Herc and he arched one back. It made Yancy nervous. “Are you going to tell them?” Herc asked, finally.

“Here,” said Pentecost, and he passed the tablet over to Herc. “Brass made a decision after seeing Striker in action today.”

“Chuck, Mako,” Herc said, and he handed Chuck the tablet after turning it on. “Thought you might want to see this.” Yancy smiled - he hadn’t been aware things were going to proceed that quickly. But then again, kaiju attacks were becoming increasingly frequent.

Chuck peered down and looked at the Jaeger specifications. Yancy couldn’t help but grin at the expression on his face - and really, he shouldn’t, because here were two fifteen year-old kids that had been raised to, and were now getting, their very own killing machine. “Plasma canon?” he said.

“Mmm,” Herc said. “Salvaging that, I guess.” He glanced over at Yancy and Raleigh, both intent on their ice cream. Raleigh just nodded. “She’s totally UN funded, uh, diverting some of the funds from the wall for her.” Chuck turned his head slightly and nodded and then passed the tablet over to Mako.

“Have they named it?” Mako asked.

“Renegade Spitfire,” said Herc.

“That’s a mouthful,” said Yancy.

Chuck didn’t say anything and seemed to be considering it.

“I know it’s a pom engine…” Herc began. Yancy cocked his head, trying to access it in the recesses of his brain - he’d once been obsessed with fighter pilots. Right, he thought. Spitfires were English.

“I think it might be because it’s a little…” Raleigh began, and then looked over at Mako, who was almost daring him to say it. “Girly?”

“Fuck,” said Chuck, “they could call the damn thing Pussy Wagon and I would strap in.” Yancy spurted out laughter the first and then stopped when Herc shook his head at him. “Don’t give me that look, Mori, you would as well.”  
“Yes,” Mako said, finally. “I would.”


	6. Chapter 6

_Six Months Later_

Stacker hadn’t been in a Jumphawk in some time, and never in the cockpit. “Always good to get out and see how things are done,” Chief Marshall Robles, in from Los Angeles, had said.

He knew that she just didn’t want him pacing back and forth in LOCCENT for this.

“Renegade Spitfire, you are approaching training drop location,” Yancy said, voice clear but with a hint of amusement in it.

“We are prepared for drop,” Mako replied. Stacker had been surprised that Chuck was letting her manage communications even though he had taken the right side. Nerves, perhaps, though both of them had waited for this moment for some time.

“Jumphawks, confirm preparation for release,” Yancy said, and, after getting confirmation from all of the pilots, added, “Confirmation received - Spitfire, drop is in 3, 2, 1-” The Jumphawk bounced higher once the weight of the Jaeger was released and Stacker remembered his first drop, down onto the body of Coyote. He sighed.

The Jumphawk pilot he was accompanying, Captain Lassiter, grinned at him. “That’s not a drop,” she said. “I remember that simulator.”

Stacker nodded and watched as the Jumphawk circled to get him a better view of Spitfire. He couldn’t help but marvel at the Jaeger - for all that Striker looked like the personification of a guy who was going to beat you up in a bar, Spitfire was almost elegant. Her lines were smooth and considered, even in the short amount of time between the two Jaeger’s productions there had been improvements in the desk. It didn’t hurt that they had salvaged as much of Gipsy Danger as possible to create her, either.

“Spitfire, are you prepared to run through the set of maneuvers?” Yancy asked.

“Engaged, LOCCENT,” Mako replied.

“Let’s start by a walk, then, moving twenty degrees north and into the deeper water,” Yancy replied. Stacker nodded, slightly - Becket had really come into his own, these past few months, and he’d received reports from several Jaeger pilots that they considered him an invaluable asset when he had been on duty during their fights. He had to temper his smile to give that feedback to Yancy, and he was glad to see the impact on his confidence. He carried himself differently, and it wasn’t just related to the J-Tech legs he now wore most of the time in public.

Stacker switched his attention back to Spitfire as the Jaeger moved - smooth, elegant, and light, befitting the youth of her pilots. Not that that was something he wanted to dwell on.

“Let’s take her to a run,” Yancy said. Stacker had to smile at how quickly and smoothly the Jaeger transitioned.

“She looks good,” Lassiter said. “Very good. You should be proud.”

He was - not that he had wanted Mako to be in this position, at this age, but it was what she wanted. And she deserved the best. Chuck as well.

Stacker watched the next few maneuvers, each executed perfectly by the two young pilots. The world media had been suitably outraged at the development - _Child Soldiers!_ and _What Has The War Come To, The Children Have To Save Us?_ It didn’t matter that they were the two best candidates that had been through the Academy in years or that they were drift compatible. It didn’t matter that Stacker partially agreed.

“I’d like to see the sword, Spitfire,” Yancy said. “I know it’s not on the list, but indulge me?”

Stacker closed his eyes and shook his head - though he was pleased. This was the Yancy Becket that he remembered as Marshal of Anchorage, the kid who had organized the office chair race around the compound - with participants duct taped to ensure that they only utilized their feet.

Not that it had been seamless. Herc had been in his office just two days ago, two beers in before he mentioned something about a fight that he and Yancy had. _It’s his brother, you know,_ Herc said, and ran his hands through his hair. _Now when he acts a certain way, I see him like Raleigh does, this big brother, and…_ Stacker had certainly understood, had more than a few memories of his sister now tinged with the way Tamsin had felt about her. Not that it was in any way helpful for Herc’s current situation.

“Oh, that is something,” Lassiter said, and Stacker nodded as Spitfire’s arm moved through several standard stances with the sword - both Chuck and Mako had been practicing with rapiers, even though Stacker and Herc had thought that was a bad idea.

“I’m impressed,” Yancy said. “Anything else you would like to test, Spitfire?”

“We are impressed as well,” Mako replied.

“Spitfire to rendezvous at deployment site,” Chuck added, and his voice sounded somehow deeper. More confident, Stacker realized. It didn’t surprise him.

“This is good,” Lassiter said. “After what happened to Echo.”

“Yes,” Stacker said, and he resisted the urge to sigh - the twins were due back in Sydney now that Echo had been properly repaired and they had been fully rehabilitated. They could be back on rotation as early as next week. “Even with all of the hand-wringing…” Lassiter nodded her head and turned the Jumphawk around to pick up the Jaeger at the rendezvous spot.

“Yancy is doing very well,” Lassiter said. “We very much like having him. Though I know the pilots like him as well.” Stacker nodded - he’d thought Yancy would naturally adapt to the LOCCENT functions regarding the Jaegers, but had figured there would be a bit more of a learning curve in regards to him working with the Jumphawks. It wasn’t the first time he’d underestimated Yancy Becket, though. “If you don’t mind...he is good for Hansen, too, it seems.”

Stacker nodded again. The two were pretty good about not letting their arguments go public, or even acting differently around one another when they were arguing. Not that they actually fought, like couples could, but there were certainly disagreements. It seemed, at first, to all be primarily in response to each other’s commitments keeping them apart. Stacker had only recently picked up on the muddying boundaries between Raleigh and Yancy and Yancy and Herc. It wasn’t like someone had written any advice for that kind of situation in a book on relationships.

He’s so much younger, Herc had said, after another two beers. And then sometimes I look at him and think about… He shook his head, not able to articulate it. Herc was also the big brother, after all. It’s not the same at all. Takes me right out of it.

_I’m sure he understands,_ Stacker responded. He knows the drift.

_It’s different, you know. With a brother,_ Herc replied.

_Talk to him about it?_ Stacker suggested. Herc curled his lip. Typical Hansen. It was a terrible shortcoming that they were all afflicted with, possibly genetic.

He realized Lassiter was waiting for his response. “They do work well together,” Stacker said, finally.

“It would be hard, I think…” Lassiter shook her head slightly as they made the turn back towards the Shatterdome. “Well. Shows a lot.”

It occurred to Stacker that they might have been having different conversations, and the implications of this angered him slightly. He’d primarily been thinking about how Yancy was good for Herc - reminding him of things that he had missed out on for too long. It’s not that he could blame Lassiter, because he knew she wasn’t the only one who saw some kid who had arrived terribly crippled, was ostensibly still a cripple, and watched him somehow land one of the more attractive eligible pilots in the PPDC.

 “It does,” Stacker said, because there was no point of getting into it with people. He had to remind himself that none of them had known Yancy as he had known him and as Herc had first caught a glimpse of him. At that thought, he understood, possibly, what Yancy still went through better than he ever had.

He was glad, he decided, that whatever he and Herc had recently disagreed on had easily blown over. Though there was part of him that wondered if it might have been slightly artificial on one end or the other out of the desire to make sure that the only thing Herc focused on today was the success of Spitfire.

Stacker walked into LOCCENT to debrief once he returned. Spitfire was still in the process of being resettled and Chuck and Mako were exiting the Conn Pod. “Today went well,” he said. “Any problems with the new interface?”

“None that I noticed, sir,” Yancy said. Pentecost nodded - it still startled him to see Yancy in the LOCCENT uniform, insignia pinned on his lapel. Hell, sometimes it startled him to see Yancy walking.

“She looked good from our end,” said Elka Redmond, who had been transferred from Anchorage recently to work as Spitfire’s chief engineer.

“Overall systems functioned optimally,” Tendo added.

“Excellent,” said Stacker. “I’m going to debrief with the pilots as well, but I feel comfortable putting Spitfire on back-up rotation.” Each nodded their heads. “Thank you,” he added. His eyes lingered briefly over Yancy, who gave him a slight smile before he turned back to his control module.

Stacker shook his head - if someone had told him that Yancy Becket and Herc Hansen would have been good for each other, a year ago? That any of this would be happening, really? But that was how this war went, he supposed. Nothing was a given.

Hell, even the scientists thought they might have figured something useful out. Stacker had a conference call with Gottlieb earlier that morning and it seemed like Geiszler was getting some interesting results from his most recent samples. The two of them seemed close to understanding the mechanics of the drift, why they hadn’t been able to get anything down it before.

* * *

Yancy stretched and sighed. It had been a long fucking day in LOCCENT - taking Spitfire through her paces and then running through all of the new coding and programming that had been uploaded into Echo Sabre to ensure that her upgrades were going to function before they had strapped the twins in. And that was before you got to the false alarm in the breach, someone in the Marinas getting a little too enthusiastic - some new kid, no doubt, desperately wanting to name his first kaiju.  _Sorry, guys, uh, looks like that was an actual earthquake,_ he said, and Tendo had rubbed at his temples and shook his head.

He sat down on the bed and slid out of his pants. Herc was still debriefing with Stacker and Chuck but had promised to be back in time for them to have dinner in their room - Yancy had hoped his guess of eight had been accurate. It gave him time to shower, at least.

He glanced down at the legs before he worked the fastenings that attached them to the harnesses he wore. They were still as smooth as they had been on the day that he got them, a few dents and scratches from some hallway chases with Max but none the worse for wear. They were still jarring to see. He might get an hour or two each day, now, when he forgot that they weren’t real and they weren’t his - he moved with such ease with them.

Yancy inhaled and then took them off and set them into the storage case that he had made for them, then he removed the harness and stocking from his legs. He massaged at the stumps, gently, hands still recoiling from the feeling of the ends of his legs and the shape they had taken on as he’d adapted to the prosthetics. At least the scars were fading.

He moved easily from the bed into the bathroom. The apartment had specifically been designed with this in mind, and that particular corridor had bars were an easy arms width apart. He sat himself down on the chair in the shower and turned the hot water on and sighed at how good it felt.

There were plenty of times, lately, when he felt like he was never going to get warm - and how stupid was that? It had been almost a year since Knifehead and this was the first time that he was having this problem.

He leaned forward to get his head under the water and reached for the shampoo, then turned when he heard the door open. “You’re early,” he said.

“Not much to say besides good work, kids, nothing exploded, no one was injured, we’re going to try and keep that up, moving forward,” Herc said, and Yancy grinned at the sound of him stepping out of his clothes. He used his arms to slide his seat back so Herc had room to enter the shower.

“Hello, handsome,” he said, because the difference in their positions put him right at eye level with Herc’s cock. He leaned forward and kissed it, still soft, and then turned his gaze up so he could see Herc shaking his head at him.

So they were good, then. It had been awkward that morning and it shouldn’t have been - because he should have fucking known better. Of course Herc would be on edge, Chuck’s first proper day out in his bright, shiny new Jaeger. Well, mostly. The parts that weren’t Yancy’s Jaeger.

On the other hand, he wasn’t going to keep things in and wait to spring them on Herc when the moment was right- they didn’t have opportune moments, anymore, when a kaiju alarm could sound any minute. So instead, chewing his bagel, he’d decided to casually point out that despite the fact they had a large bed he was pretty sure that they could do other things with it despite attempt to see how far they could each spread out.

“Yancy,” Herc said. It had been five days. Legless or not, a man had needs. Especially when the man in a man’s bed looked like Herc Hansen. “I just…”

Yancy had held Herc’s eye - he knew better, but there was still a constant fear in the back of his head that at some point Herc would come to the stark realization that Yancy was missing a good quarter of his body. And how long would he tolerate being with such a fucking basketcase, anyway? Yancy knew he gave good head, was a good fuck, but, well - it was only going to keep him in the game for so long.

“I want it to be right,” he said, finally.

“Tell me how it’s wrong?” Yancy said.

Herc had narrowed his eyes at him and Yancy had taken a sip of his coffee. “Spent a lot of time in the simulator with your brother, lately,” he said. Herc and Raleigh had been bearing the brunt of the software trials for Spitfire, just because Chuck and Mako wouldn’t be able to tell if there was necessarily anything wrong beyond the glaring stuff.

“OK,” Yancy said, and then things clicked together as his brain slowly moved the pieces around and together. “Oh. OK.”

“It’s not because - fuck, Yance, don’t be dense,” Herc said, and shook his head at him.

“Well,” said Yancy. “I will try not to be.” He glanced off to the side, though - why hadn’t he even thought of this? This was a serious crossing of the streams issue.

“I mean, Christ, you’re so much…” Herc flapped his hand, a little uselessly. Yancy could think of a long list of adjectives and just shook his head - well aware that he was failing on his most recent promise. “Much younger,” Herc said. “And then…”

“Right,” Yancy replied, and wondered if this had been at the root of other arguments over the past six months like _please don’t steal my son’s dog it caused unnecessary anxiety_ and _stop being a tosser and go to your medical appointment._ Oh, and, _I didn’t realize you were Stacker’s second in command, oh, you’re not? Well you have an awful lot of paperwork to do together._

Herc being in the shower with him, though, that seemed to be an acknowledgement that the time was right.

And, if there was any further question, Herc working his fingers through Yancy’s hair seemed to eliminate that. “You did really well today, Yancy,” Herc said. “Mako found you calming.”

“Really?” Yancy asked. Herc shrugged his shoulders and grinned down at him.

“Could be Mori for something else entirely,” he agreed. “Hard to tell with her.”

Yancy bit his tongue, literally, about to make a similar comment about Chuck. Instead he just moaned slightly as Herc massaged his scalp. “I ordered dinner for eight,” he said, instead. Wouldn’t do to get their delivery privileges revoked because they were fucking when the food came.

Herc looked down and squinted at his wristwatch. “Enough time to finish in here and dry off, then,” he said. Yancy gave him a pout and Herc shook his head. “After - you’re bratty when you’re hungry.”

“Tendo gave me a bagel for lunch,” Yancy protested.

“That’s just carbs,” Herc said, in his most disapproving voice. He worked some shampoo through his own hair and rinsed it quickly, then stepped out so Yancy could finish. Yancy sighed - he couldn’t help but think of how much better it would be, both of them able to stand, face each other, wash shampoo out of their hair at the same time.

Didn’t matter. No point, he told himself, and leaned forwards to work his fingers quickly through his hair. Once he was sure he had got out the suds he turned the shower off and then opened the door and got out onto the bench next to the shower. Herc was already in the bedroom - there were moments when Yancy didn’t mind the acknowledgement of the difference between them, like Herc carrying him from the couch to the bed. Other times, though, it just felt overly clinical for some reason. Something about drying himself off, working a towel in and around everything that was...that had been taken from him, it always made a knot in his stomach and he knew it was counterproductive, from his end, but there was nothing he could do to stop it.

It was OK that Herc had arranged his lightweight chair right next to the bathroom door, though. And maybe the whole thing was stupid - this was the man, after all, who got put his hands on just about every inch of Yancy’s skin. Who had tasted just about every part of him.

They both ate quickly, and Yancy grinned when Herc took the handles of his chair and steered him back towards the bedroom. Again, this was all right, because it was eager, not-

“Something I’ve been meaning to do,” he said, and Yancy shivered at the gravel in his voice. _Yes, good, very good,_ he thought. Yancy moved himself onto the bed and Herc quickly crawled over top.

His kisses were hard and rough, just what Yancy liked. Herc stroked his hair and then gave it a bit of a tug. “You are gorgeous,” he muttered, and Yancy just groaned into the attention and waited until Herc loosened his body a bit as he kissed at his neck - and it was difficult, since his mouth was warm and sliding down Yancy’s skin and he smelled like the perfect mix of salt and something clean.

Yancy rolled him over, though, straddled over him and ground their cocks together. “Fuck, Yance-”

“Mmm?” Yancy said, before seizing Herc’s mouth and then putting his tongue to his nipple. Herc was remarkably sensitive and responsive, if you did it slowly and carefully, so Yancy drew it out. His other hand ran down Herc’s side, admiring the muscles and the curve of his ass. He flicked his tongue, circled, sucked. Then he scraped his teeth.

“Yance, god, that’s - Yancy!” He bit and then worked over the nipple with his tongue. He moved his hand to twist the other one. “You are a tease!”

“Why not?” Yancy asked, because Herc’s hands were clasping and unclasping into fists. He bit again and grinned at the groan Herc made. He trailed his hand down lower and grasped Herc’s cock and stroked it. “When you respond like that?” Herc mumbled something into his neck and Yancy stroked a bit harder. “You want to fuck me, Herc?”

Herc made a deep sound in his throat and grabbed at Yancy’s hips. Most of the time, in bed with Herc, he could forget. But he remembered in moments like these - the lack where he was supposed to be, how easy he was to heft around now. Herc made a different sound as he put Yancy on his back and ran his hands over his biceps. Which Yancy supposed was another benefit - he finally had arm and shoulder muscles.

As if drifting with him, Herc grinned. “Your ass, too,” he said. His voice was hungry. Yancy closed his eyes and moved his stump aside - there was, really, no better word for it and he was fine with it, now. Herc palmed his ass, squeezed it, and kneaded his fingers into it. “Roll over.”

_Something I’ve been meaning to do,_ Yancy remembered, and, _oh. Oh._ “Oh god,” he murmured, as Herc draped himself over top of Yancy and kissed at the back of his neck. “I’ve never-”

“Never?” Herc asked, and he seemed genuinely surprised.

“No, I-” Yancy felt himself blush, deep, as Herc kissed down his spine.

“I like that,” Herc said. It had a lot of gravel in it. _Fuck me,_ Yancy thought, and there was a kiss at the top of his ass.

Yancy wasn’t really sure how to describe it, how good it felt - Herc licking down the center of him, pulling him apart with his hands and slowly moving towards a spot that he didn’t realize could be so fucking sensitive. “Fuck, Herc, that feels fucking amazing, it’s…”

Herc circled his tongue around his center and then gently sucked. Yancy arched his back as the ripples of pleasure moved through him, and then there was something more, further, deeper. “Oh. My. God. Herc.” His tongue was inside him, sliding slowly around the hole and sparking nerves to the kind of life he didn’t know they had. “Herc, I’m - Herc!”

“I could make you come like this.”

“Fuck, yes!” Yancy agreed as Herc plunged his tongue in deeper. He ground his hips into the mattress, wanting to get some contact for his dick.

Herc spanked him.

Lightly. But he spanked him. “Fuck, yes, Herc.”

“You just hold still,” Herc murmured, and then there was a finger breaching deep into Yancy. “Look at you, so ready for me.”

“Yes. Very yes.” Herc worked him quickly, more checking than anything, and then he turned Yancy back over onto his back. “Fuck, look at you,” he said, and he put a hand on Yancy’s chest and gave him a warm smile that belied the way he had just spoke to him.

Herc slid in him and it was...right, like their bodies remembered each other. The soft smile of Herc’s face, the look in his eye, it seemed to indicate he felt the same way. “There,” he said, and put his hand to Yancy’s jaw. “Look at me.”

Yancy did and he canted his hips up against Herc and groaned as he felt his dick slide deep inside of him. Herc filled him, pulled him apart and put him back together. Yancy groaned as his cock lightly slid against his prostate and then grasped at Herc’s shoulders and pulled him down for a kiss as he hit it, harder. “Not gonna last…”

“No,” Herc agreed, put his mouth back against Yancy’s lips. Warmth built in his balls, his lower stomach, and he thrust harder into Herc to get more contact. Sparks began to collect, grew stronger and deeper and then he was coming across his stomach and onto Herc.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck,” he murmured as Herc thrust into him deeper when he was so fucking sensitive - and then, maybe a minute later, he moaned at the sensation of warmth pooling inside him.

Herc stayed in him for some time and kissed him lightly across his face and neck, brushed his hair out of his face, and stroked his thumb along his jaw. “Yancy…” he said, finally.

“Yeah?” Yancy said.

“Love you,” Herc murmured.

Yancy grinned. “Love you too,” he said. He remembered when Herc had first said it to him - two months after they had been together, completely off the cuff and unplanned. It was best that way. I can’t believe I love you you are such an asshole, he said, after Yancy had said something to mock him slightly.

“You up for a movie?” Herc asked, still inside him.

“Yeah,” Yancy said. “Yeah, definitely.”

* * *

“You’re up early,” Raleigh said at breakfast the next morning. He slid in next to Yancy with a tray full of food.

“I was swimming,” Yancy said. He had just got a new pair of aquatic legs that had been specifically molded to him. His training was getting increasingly rigorous - too bad there still weren’t the Paraolympics, he had thought. He was getting close to respectable times for double amputees.

“Who are you and what did you do with my brother?” Raeigh asked. Yancy shrugged. He still didn’t like early mornings, but working in LOCCENT was a lot more structured than being a Jaeger pilot. If he wanted time in the pool he had to wake up and incorporate a nap between five and dinner. “So, have you heard the, uh, rumblings?”

Yancy arched an eyebrow - and he was surprised that he was getting this from Raleigh, first, rather than Herc. Raleigh sensed this, though. “Totally overheard Stacker talking to Mako,” he said. “They were coming out of the kwoon, and...PPDC doesn’t think both the Mark-Vs should be in Sydney.”

Yancy nodded. He and Tendo had already speculated as much. “Yeah, well, that’s not a surprise,” he said.

“Herc’s not gonna let them send Chuck off to L.A. or something, though,” Raleigh said. “He let him go to the Jaeger Academy ‘cause Chuck pleaded, not-”

Yancy hated it when Raleigh had these insights, this knowledge that he didn’t. He always told himself to just inhale, though.

Herc and Raleigh were a thing - hell, they were the PPDC’s new golden team. “They might get away with one up in Tokyo, another down here,” he said. “Only because this side tends to get hit more, but…”

“Chuck’s almost sixteen,” Raleigh said. Yancy nodded and knew Raleigh was thinking of himself at that age, going to high school and working close to forty hours a week so they could keep their house.

“It’s not going to be an easy one,” Yancy said. “Sending him to the Academy is a lot different from sending him-”

Raleigh nodded his head and inhaled - then Yancy realized that there was nothing for Raleigh to really be concerned about. Wherever he and Herc went, Yancy was coming too. He was concerned because Herc was concerned and it had bled straight into him and he didn’t even know.

“He’s less of a dickhead, you know,” Raleigh said, and then it was gone.

“Pretty sure both he and Mako go and talk to someone after those first few drifts,” Yancy said. All of the tests had indicated that the two of them would be drift compatible - but once they had finally plugged into each other they had fought. They were still used to being rivals and not able to yield to one another.

“Yeah,” Raleigh said. “Who would have thought? Couple of kids who lost parents to the kaiju…” He shook his head at Yancy. “Did they make us?”

“No,” said Yancy. “But we could drift together.”

Raleigh gave him half a grin and then nodded his head.

* * *

“Becket?” He turned, surprised to her one of the twins - but then, they were back in the Shatterdome today, a few days ahead of Echo Sabre. Rehabilitated, broken bones functional again, ready to make up for the kill that they missed.

“Yes?” he said, and turned. He was surprised to see them with shorter hair - it had been down to their backs, before, and was now cut close to the shoulders. And one of them had sort of bang things. Only one of them.

“Hanna,” said the twin with bangs.

“Do you want to get a cup of coffee?” asked Nicky.

Yancy considered both of them. Obviously something had changed and they were making an effort to let people know. “Sure,” he said. “You want some of Tendo’s secret stash?”

“Choi is still down here?” Hanna asked.

“A lot of…” Yancy wasn’t sure how to phrase it - Team Gipsy, he supposed, but that was- “A lot of people have come down from Anchorage to back up Striker and Spitfire.”

“Heard they put on quite the show this morning,” Nicky said. “Sword with cauterizing plasma.”

“Is that why the dog has a katana?” Hanna asked.

“I think so,” Yancy replied. The logo was hilarious - Max, sword in mouth, fierce sort of expression on his cartoon face. Yancy had no idea if Mako was responsible for the katana or if someone else had just put it in the gogo and they had agreed to it.

“Thought it was some weeaboo shit,” said Nicky.

“Not sure you can be a weeaboo if you are actually Japanese,” Yancy said, and he opened the room to the senior LOCCENT officer’s small kitchen and started making some coffee for them.

“Well,” said Hanna finally, as Yancy handed her a filled mug. “Perhaps.”

“I think you are jealous we did not get a katana,” said Nicky. Yancy nodded at this - Echo Sabre had been a bit short-shifted when it came to logos, the Jaeger had been rolled out with several other Mark-IIIs and it was more of an abstract, geometric design meant to approximate an echo of some sort. Or so Yancy had always understood it. Better than their heavily ethnic pin-up girl, as far as he was concerned.

“So-” Yancy said, because there had to be a reason for this.

“We read it all,” said Hanna. Yancy nodded, though it was eerie when they spoke in the plural. “How we fucked up. Could have got brave little Raleigh Becket killed.”

“You could have,” Yancy said - and how was it he had forgot this completely valid point until now. “You were fucking irresponsible out there. Because of - what, exactly?” He figured he had the right to ask.

“Personal things,” said Nicky, real ice in her voice.

Yancy narrowed his eyes at her - though this was helpful. After this conversation he was pretty sure he now at least liked one of them better than the other. It helped being able to tell them apart, of course.

“Doesn’t matter,” said Hanna, waving her hand at her sister. “I’m really sorry, because it shouldn’t have happened, and...it won’t. Again.” She glared at Nicky, cementing Yancy’s decision. Nicky nodded her head.

“Look,” said Nicky, “there have been three big fuck-ups, this past year.” Her eyes went right to Yancy’s legs. He inhaled. She was right. He and Raleigh - fuck, what had they been thinking? They hadn’t been thinking, really, and neither had the Paulsens. He sighed. “We have to get better.”

“Well, I don’t know if you noticed, but I’m not exactly the person that you might want to consult on that,” Yancy replied. He glanced down at his legs and then looked at them.

“You understood the one we were up against, though,” said Nicky.

“Maybe you’ll...you know, have a better perspective now,” Yancy said.

“What she is getting at,” said Hanna, “is that it would be good to work with someone, maybe. We’ve read the reports. Pilots seem to like having you around.”

“Do you want me to teach you how to listen?” Yancy asked.

They looked at each other and then nodded their heads in unison. Yancy resisted the urge to curl his lips. “I’ll need to whip something up in the simulator,” he said. “And we’ll go from there, OK?”

They nodded their head. “Thanks,” Hanna said and gave him a soft smile. He just arched an eyebrow, hoping that this wouldn’t end badly. 

* * *

“This is nice,” Elka said, reclining on the lounge chair on the roof deck of the Sydney Shatterdome.

“Pass me that sun screen back?” Yancy said. He was starting to get something of a tan, but he was still aware of the fact that his skin had spent relatively few hours in the sun, let alone sun like this.

“I feel bad for leaving the rest of them in Alaska with…” Elka mused, handing Yancy the SPF 50.

“Sometimes,” Yancy said, “you need to prioritize self-preservation.” Elka nodded at him and then pulled her sunglasses down to meet his eyes.

“Speaking from experience?” she asked.

Yancy shrugged as he put some of the sunscreen on his nose and then spread it across his face. He needed a quick diversion. “Besides, Heather and Colby are handling fine on their own.”

“Gonna need someone else up in the Icebox, though,” Elka said. “Big conference call tomorrow, you know.”

Yancy nodded his head. Herc was wound tight, and even a long, considered blow job hadn’t done much to dissipate his anxiety, even briefly. Yancy didn’t know what to say - he knew how he would feel, if they just decided to send Raleigh off to the other side of the world. He couldn’t imagine having a kid. On the other hand, Herc had to have known it was coming eventually when he had actively decided he wanted Raleigh in the cockpit with him.

“Fuck, you guys!” Raleigh said, poking his head through the roof deck entrance. “You ran off without me-”

“You were in the kwoon, Little Becket,” Elka said. “Doing important pilot things.”

Raleigh pouted - the look of a puppy denied its favorite toy - then climbed onto the roof and sat in the lounge chair between Elka and Yancy. He tossed his little brother the sunscreen. Raleigh’s greatest embarrassment had occurred five months ago, when he had gone with Herc, Chuck, and Mako to the beach on some sort of bonding session. Raleigh decided he was going to prove he wasn’t some pale mole creature like everyone thought he was. Yancy was pretty sure no other Jaeger team had ever been grounded for second degree sunburn and heat exhaustion.

The e-mail string had been worth Raleigh’s humiliation.

“Had to kick Chuck’s ass,” Raleigh said, after he haphazardly smeared sunscreen all over himself. “Thinks he’s a big fucking deal now that they’ve done their first test run.”

“They both seem a bit looser, at least,” Elka said. “Have never seen two kids like that.”

“Mako laughed when I kicked Chuck’s ass,” Raleigh said with a grin.

“Beating up on children,” Yancy said, and shook his head.

“Anyway,” Elka said, “we were talking about the big powwow tomorrow. Tendo has big money going on who is going where.”

“And?” Yancy said. “Where did you put your bet?”

“Keep Striker down here,” she said, glancing over at Raleigh. “Need someone experienced, amount of ground needs to be covered. Twins to the Icebox, and Spitfire somewhere they’re going to be back up to experience. Los Angeles.”

“Chuck would punch one of the Gages,” said Raleigh.

Elka considered this and Yancy laughed, because he would. The Gages were all buttoned up propriety, completely military. Chuck was just as intense, but in an utterly different way. Yancy had never seen the kid step out of line, yet he somehow managed to always infuse it with that temper of his - whereas Yancy still wasn’t sure the Gages weren’t some kind of advanced robotics system in and of themselves.

“It is the most likely,” Elka said. “Everyone else is just shuffling teams around like…” She shrugged her shoulders.

“They won’t move them,” Yancy said. “They’ll send the twins to the Icebox… they can justify keeping the Mark-V down here because of the vast deployment zone and how easy we can Jumphawk someone up to Hong Kong for coverage…” He shrugged when Raleigh and Elka considered this. “Don’t underestimate the influence Herc and Stacker have, for now.”

“You should enter,” Elka said. “Odds on that would pay out quite nicely.”

“I’m good,” Yancy said, though he considered it. Not that there was anything he would really buy, if he got the money. PPDC gave him everything that he needed. Anything that he would want wasn’t something that he could just store at the Shatterdome.

“I suppose you are,” Elka said, and smirked at him a little bit. Yancy sighed and adjusted the towel he had put over his stumps - there was no point in even trying to expose that skin to the sun.

* * *

Yancy gave Herc a wide berth in the morning, staying in bed while Herc showered, brushed his teeth, got dressed in his official uniform. And there wasn’t anything unusual in the behavior - Yancy wasn’t due at LOCCENT until noon, so it wasn’t odd for him to be sleeping in.

But then Herc was standing over the bed, so Yancy pulled the blanket down and exposed his face. “You’re working on something for the twins?”

“Just some training protocols,” Yancy said. “They want to, uh, improve their teamwork with LOCCENT.”

“Huh,” Herc said.

“Nearly dying does that for you-” Yancy began, and then immediately stopped. He hadn’t changed, he thought. He clenched his jaw as Herc studied him.

“Don’t I know it,” Herc said. Yancy nodded. Sometimes he forgot about what happened in Lucky Seven - because Herc didn’t talk about it and he didn’t wear the effects on his flesh. “I might not be back until late.”

“Right,” Yancy said - and felt like he was supposed to offer up something else, like, I hope your irritable son does stick around, he’s warmed to be ever so slightly over the past six months! There had been an initial, somewhat fruitful detente when Chuck and Mako were working with him to learn the operational software for Spitfire. It was then immediately shattered when Yancy and Herc moved in together in order to stop sexiling Raleigh. There had been a minute improvement since then, primarily because, Yancy guessed, Chuck realized that Yancy wasn’t going anywhere. “I hope you get the result you’re after,” he said, finally.

Herc nodded his head. “He’s a good kid,” he said. “Just not mature.” Yancy could tell Herc was comparing him to the Beckets again - but it wasn’t really fair. A lot of their maturing had happened before K-Day, had to happen based on mundane circumstances like cancer and bad fathers and...he shook his head.

“I know,” Yancy said. “He’s growing on me - I’m just trying, you know, for some mutuality there. Synergy. Whatever the word is these days.” Herc nodded his head and smiled at him, then walked over to the side of the bed. He leaned down and kissed Yancy’s forehead. Yancy sighed a little bit, because he knew that it should feel a bit silly, but...he liked it.

He should have known Herc was up to something. “So,” he said. “Already asked Raleigh, but...you mind maybe keeping those two occupied today? They’ve already made their feelings known on things, and…”

Yancy nodded, remembering the stories of how Chuck had burst into the conference call where everyone was going to determine whether they should let him go to Ranger Academy at fourteen. “Sure, yeah,” he said. “Though they’re definitely going to think they’re too old to have babysitters.”  
Herc gave him a sort of wry grin that Yancy couldn’t quite decipher. Then he nodded his head. “I want to take you out tomorrow.”

“Oh?” Yancy asked, and part of him wondered if he was missing something, if there was some significance. And then, as Herc looked down and pressed his lips together, he realized yeah, fuck, there was. Though it wasn’t like they had a myriad of milestones for him to fumble through. “First date,” he said, and Herc gave him a relieved smile.

“I’m usually not one for that,” Herc said. He sat down on the edge of the bed and Yancy pulled himself up with arms. Herc made a small groaning sound and reached over and stroked one his biceps - back in form and, with all the swimming, maybe larger than when he had been jockeying. “You’ve meant a lot to me.”

Yancy nodded - somehow that was more intimate than the words they’d already exchanged. “You as well,” he said. He initiated the kiss between them, slid his lips over Herc’s and then put a hand to his jaw to deepen it before he released slowly.

“Good,” Herc said. Then he nodded at him and stood.

* * *

“Oi, I don’t need a nanny,” Chuck said - quickly realizing that Raleigh and Yancy had been sent to take him, Mako, and Max along for a walk for reasons.

“Yes you do,” Mako said. She elbowed him gently and he narrowed his eyes at her. It was so strange to see them together now - the old, almost bitter rivalry between them had bled into something that reminded Yancy a lot of how he and Raleigh were with each other. Except there was an intensity to it that was a bit disarming. It might just be because they’d just started drifting.

“Look,” said Raleigh, “we could all benefit from some-” Chuck snorted, no doubt remembering the picture of Raleigh’s crispy red back in contrast to his pale, glowing white thighs. Tendo had to have been the one who hacked into his medical file.

“You need to trust that Sensei and your father will advocate for what is best for everyone,” Mako said to him. Yancy nodded his head.

“Best for you, definitely,” Chuck said, staring at him. “Then Herc’s only got to divide his attention.”

Raleigh actually took a step back and glanced over towards Mako, who nodded her head at him. Little shits, Yancy thought. Though he supposed it needed to happen.

“Chuck, I - he’s your dad,” Yancy said. “I’m…” He stopped. Between Herc and Raleigh he had a pretty good rundown of the Hansen family issues. Herc had no idea what to do with Chuck, hadn’t since his mum died - and Chuck had no idea what to do with Herc. Reducing it to wah dad doesn’t have enough time for me! was overly simplistic, though. But it was easier, he supposed, when you were sixteen, to think like that.

Fuck, he sometimes even still thought of their dad that way. “You’re a fucking freak,” Chuck said. “I can’t even - he puts his dick in you, and-”

“Hey!” Raleigh turned, despite his best efforts, and advanced on Chuck. “Fuck you,” he said. “Don’t you dare - you’ve got plenty of fucking things that you can say to him, yeah? Don’t even bring that into it.”

Chuck and Raleigh stared at each other for a long moment. Raleigh almost looked like he was going to growl. “Raleigh,” Mako said, and that was what finally got him out of Chuck’s face.

“OK,” Chuck said. “I’m sorry.”

Yancy swallowed. He knew Chuck was angry, that he had gone straight for Yancy’s most vulnerable spot - but the hit had been direct. Even after six months he still thought about it. Herc was gorgeous, Herc was getting interviewed on television, Herc got mentioned on websites and had a huge following as one of the PPDC’s Hot Dads along with Stacker.

And what was Yancy? Chewed up, spit out, but only half of him - legs dissolving in kaiju blue somewhere in the North Pacific Ocean. There wasn’t much left of him and he was just hiding it with the artificial legs, with the tone of command that he took in LOCCENT, when he was in bed with Herc. He still got looks from people - the pilot who survived, but at what cost?

He didn’t deserve any of this, given his responsibility for Gipsy - for what he had done to Raleigh. “Yancy?” Raleigh said, moving away from Chuck and over to him. He put his arm on Raleigh’s upper arm and Yancy felt his throat sort of constrict and tighten. Panic attack, he thought, and he hadn’t had one since he had been in the rehabilitation hospital. He tried to swallow and found it difficult. He began to feel light-headed and his right arm began to tighten. “Yancy, you...OK?”

Raleigh shot a glare over at Chuck. “Christ,” Chuck said, and Yancy could see it suddenly occurred to him exactly what he had said.

“Come on, Chuck,” Mako said.

Yancy felt like a spectacle, standing out there along the pier outside of the Sydney Shatterdome. It was a great day, sunshine everywhere, the water sparkling like it wasn’t full of poison. He felt Raleigh wrap his arms around him and pull him tight. “It’s OK,” he said.

“It’s not OK,” Yancy said.

“I know,” Raleigh said. “But, considering…”

Yancy smiled at that even as it became harder to breathe. He settled his head down on Raleigh’s shoulder and let himself cry. They were hard, painful tears that came out in hiccups against his brother’s taller, broader shoulder. Raleigh was running his hand down his back and moving it in smooth, careful circles. “We should get you to medical,” he said.

“Yeah,” Yancy agreed - because even with the release of emotion, the hot stinging tears, the panic attack was escalating and his whole body was vibrating.

The walk happened quickly, Yancy stumbling slightly because he wasn’t paying attention to the legs. Raleigh took him gently and guided him upright, and soon he found himself sitting at the end of the gurney with the doctor taking his blood pressure and temperature and telling him that he needed a sedative.

It took effect quickly and Yancy began to feel groggy and tired. Raleigh stayed with him the whole time, watching him with wide blue eyes, and Yancy could tell what his younger brother was thinking. You could have died. That was what mattered for Raleigh. He still had Yancy, Yancy was still here. It was easier to see things in black and white when it wasn’t your body, wasn’t your life.

“M’gonna sleep,” Yancy slurred, at some point, and Raleigh just nodded and smiled at him.

When he woke up he felt a good deal clearer and lighter. He knew before he even opened his eyes that Herc was going to be the one in the seat next to him. When Herc realized that he was awake he reached over and ran his hand through Yancy’s hair, fingers carefully separating the strands and tugging with just the right amount of pressure.

“I’m sorry,” Yancy said.

“Why are you apologizing?”

“For you having to make a fuss,” Yancy said. His voice still sounded a bit like his tongue was too big for his mouth. “I...I should have been able to…”

“This isn’t something that’s gonna go away, just suddenly be better,” Herc said. Yancy appreciated the ambiguity in the statement. “And Chuck’s always going to be a shit.”

“Chuck wasn’t…” Yancy hoped Herc hadn’t come down too hard on him. “That was just the spark, you know? There was a pretty long, uh, wick, some barrels of combustible material and…”

“I know,” said Herc. He reached over and started to stroke Herc’s hair, slow and careful. “You want to talk about it?”

“Maybe not just now,” Yancy said, and sighed. Then he waved his hands over his legs. “Just...I don’t think I’ll ever be…” He sighed. He wanted to be, because everyone expected him to be. Like the fact that he had amazing prosthetics made everything better.

Herc nodded. “I know,” he said. “I understand.” Yancy smiled at him and they sat and just looked at each other for a moment as Herc continued to stroke his hair. “Hey, what about-”

“They’re staying down here,” Herc said. “Twins are headed to the Icebox. Less action up there, good to get them back into things. You’ll still, uh, be able to coach them remotely if you want.”

Yancy nodded - and wondered if maybe he should have put money on it.

“Don’t know how long they’ll down here for, but…” Herc shrugged his shoulders.

“Nothing wrong with wanting to keep him close,” Yancy said.

“Little wanker,” Herc said. “Can’t believe he said that-”

“I’ve really tried not to, uh, interfere with your relationship with him...but maybe spend more time with the kid?” Yancy said, and he winced a bit at the end of the statement.

Herc nodded his head, though. “I know,” he said. “Needs to be better time, too, I think. Take him for a walk with the dog.”

“To start,” Yancy said. _Oh, Hansens_ , he thought, _so thick-headed._

* * *

 

“This look all right?” Yancy asked. It was the nicest outfit he could dredge up for the date he had that evening – sport coat with pocket square, striped button down, and slim fitting khaki pants that Raleigh claimed nicely highlighted his ass.

“Yeah, man,” Raleigh said, upside on the bed and head tilted over the side to watch him. “You know Herc’s not going to be dressed in anything like that-”

“Not the point,” said Yancy, “if he likes looking at me like this…”

Raleigh shook his head and rolled over. “Fuck, I don’t want to talk about that.”

“Excellent,” Yancy said, and he fussed with his hair a bit to get the part just right. Raleigh rolled his eyes. “You got your eyes on anyone, Rals?”

“I don’t want to talk about that, either,” Raleigh replied. So yes.

“I’ll find out, you know,” he said.

“You haven’t yet,” Raleigh replied, and Yancy grinned at him.

“Behave,” he said, before exiting the room. He waked to the elevator for the garage and waited for Herc.

Contrary to what Raleigh thought - and Yancy, as well, really - Herc had on a button down shirt and dress pants, which was about as formal as he was going to get. He’d put a nice leather jacket over. “You look great,” Yancy said, and kissed his mouth eagerly.

“Fuck, you too,” Herc murmured, his hand slipping around and cupping Yancy’s ass. It was then that Yancy realized he had something small in his hand, a little box. Yancy swallowed - he hadn’t bought Herc anything, and suddenly he felt very stupid. “Ah,” Herc said, following Yancy’s gaze. “S’just a little something…”

He handed the box to Yancy. It was wrapped in plain paper.

“I didn’t get you-”

“That’s OK,” Herc said. “You’ll see.”

Yancy sighed and opened the box. He smiled when he saw that there were two pairs of dog tags inside - replicas of both his and Herc’s. “What’d you have to give as a bribe to get these done?” he asked.

“Said you lost yours in the pool a few weeks ago,” Herc said. “Reported mine missing after Rals and I took down Kojiyama. Those things are always getting stuck in the drive suit.”

Yancy nodded and took the copy of Herc’s dog tags and slid them over his head. Herc smiled back at him and repeated the gesture. “Good,” he said, voice gruff. “Got that out of the way, then. You in the mood for a decent steak?”

  
“Always,” Yancy replied.


End file.
